Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 26, 1993 TAG: 9309260148
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BUENA VISTA LENGTH: Medium
About 300 mourners packed Bolling, Grose & Lotts Funeral Home to say goodbye to the 11-year-old girl who was abducted from her home a week earlier and found slain Wednesday in neighboring Botetourt County.
Billy R. Layne, 40, brother of Phadra's stepfather, is accused of forcibly taking the girl from her trailer home in the early hours of Sept. 18 and later beating her to death with a blunt object. Botetourt authorities say Layne kidnapped the girl to sexually molest her.
"Rest assured, God settles all accounts," the Rev. Nathan Miller told the grieving crowd. He is pastor of Faith Baptist Church near the girl's home in the southeastern Rockbridge County community of Arnolds Valley.
"Anyone who mistreats a little one, he will get his just due. Let the Lord take care of his business," implored the minister. "And he will. He never fails."
There are rumors in both counties that citizens have talked of trying to kill Layne before he can stand trial for capital murder.
Rain soaked the mourners later at the graveside at High Bridge Presbyterian Church in Natural Bridge. Another minister noted that the weather matched the sadness felt by so many since the child's body was found in a shallow grave near where Layne had been living in Botetourt County.
"Doesn't it fit our attitude?" said the Rev. Wyatt Mayes. His voice had cracked earlier as he spoke of baptizing Phadra at Peoples Baptist Church here on Easter Day 1990.
During both Saturday services, mourners wept as they heard the hoarse sobs of Phadra's mother, Cindy Layne. She was embraced by her husband, Marty Layne, brother of her only child's accused killer.
Phadra's biological father, Jackie Smith of Natural Bridge Station, was among the mourners. Phadra was to have been in his wedding the afternoon of the day she disappeared.
Her classmates at Natural Bridge Elementary School began to deal with their grief last week by writing to Phadra in letters, journal entries and notes on a hallway banner. They also took up money to buy flowers for her funeral.
"Phadra was a precious little girl, and she was ready to meet God," Miller said, trying to comfort the gathering at the funeral home. At Halloween, Miller said, Phadra stepped forward at his church to profess her faith in Jesus Christ. And then, he said, she did so again in April. "Now we know," he said, "why she was making sure she was sure."
by CNB