Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 7, 1991 TAG: 9103070088
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium
"People go out there and have parties," said Kenneth Lester, 14, who lives in the Wadsworth Homes neighborhood on one side of the woods. "There are beer cans all around."
Marcia Humphrey, 32, who lives in the Birdneck Lakes neighborhood on the other side of the woods, said she has seen youths carrying crowbars and tire irons cutting through the woods.
Her husband, Steve, said neighborhood children used the woods as a playground during the day. But at night the area became overrun "by another element," he said.
The bodies of Christopher Scot Weaver, 7, and Daniel Geier, 9, were found Tuesday in the woods about 24 hours after the boys had disappeared while riding their bicycles.
The boys' throats had been slashed. Police said the bodies had been partially covered by branches and were found together. Both boys were fully clothed. Their bikes were found at nearby Birdneck Lake.
Police also said they had no indication whether the boys were killed by someone they knew or by a stranger.
Lewis Thurston, a spokesman for the police department, said about 30 officers spent the day Wednesday in a thorough search of the wooded area for any clues to the slayings.
"We are literally getting tons and tons and tons of phone calls" with tips, Thurston said. He said each tip was being checked but police had not identified any suspects.
The killings have prompted residents of the neighborhoods to keep a closer watch on their children.
"They're not going out by themselves," said Geff Herlugson, a Wadsworth Homes father of three.
Last July, a grocery store night clerk was robbed and taken to the woods and raped. Police later arrested a Wadsworth Housing resident on charges of armed robbery, abduction, rape and forcible sodomy.
by CNB