
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, October 26, 1993                   TAG: 9310260267
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

CHARGE UPGRADED TO MURDER IN MAN'S HEART-ATTACK DEATH

A man charged last week with manslaughter in the death of an acquaintance now faces a murder charge.

Jimmy L. Gaither, 25, was charged Monday with murder in the Thursday evening death of 55-year-old William Epperly.

Epperly died of a heart attack after an altercation at a Blacksburg motel.

Skip Schwab, an assistant commonwealth's attorney for Montgomery County, said Gaither was served with a murder warrant Monday. The voluntary manslaughter charge was dropped.

Gaither was being held in the Montgomery County Jail. He will be represented by Radford lawyer Max Jenkins.

Blacksburg police said last week that witnesses heard or saw Epperly's head being beaten against the wall of his apartment at the Lake Terrace Motel on South Main Street.

When officers arrived, Epperly was in cardiac arrest. He was pronounced dead at Montgomery Regional Hospital.

No weapons were used in the attack, and police say there were no visible injuries.

Last week, Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Keith said the manslaughter charge could be upgraded to murder if there was evidence that a beating led directly to Epperly's heart attack.

by CNB