CHESAPEAKE -- Investigators have seized a computer once used by former Great Bridge High School Assistant Principal Wesley Earnest, the 38-year-old accused of killing his estranged wife last year.

Authorities looking into the December death of Jocelyn Earnest are seeking to recover any forensic or digital data from the Hewlett-Packard Compaq that was on Wesley Earnest's desk at the high school, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in Chesapeake Circuit Court.

Earnest's wife was found dead at her home in Forest. She had been shot in the back of the head, and a note implied suicide.

Police said the computer-generated note was found face down several feet from the victim's body. There was no evidence that the note came from Jocelyn Earnest's own computer, police said.

The search warrant, executed this month, was for documents, e-mails, Internet browser history and files related to the death of Jocelyn Earnest or the activities of Wesley Earnest during December.

"Mr. Earnest had regular access to this computer and opportunity to use it for the purposes of sending e-mails and planning, staging, and covering up the murder of Ms. Earnest, including the composition of the purported suicide note," the affidavit stated.

The affidavit said Wesley Earnest has made statements to police that are inconsistent with recovered e-mails. Earnest is scheduled to stand trial Jan. 13 in Bedford County Circuit Court on charges of first-degree murder and use of a firearm.