Morning news AM cutins on WDBJ 7 12/06/95

08:25-01

7Monty-Murder

ANCHOR=melanie
NEWSCAST=morning
WRITER=tal
TAPE#95-102
GRAPHIC=Murder

Three suspects in a New River Valley crime spree could rack up charges including abduction, murder and armed robbery.
It began at a Blacksburg convenience store last night at the Hethwood Express store on Heather Drive sometime before nine p.m.
Police responded to a report that a Virginia Tech student may have been abducted from the parking lot.
Tracy Altizer has more.
(/////SOT/////)
SOT
IN Q=22 year- old Alexander
SUPER=03-Blacksburg; :05
SUPER=01-Bill Brown/Blacksburg Police Chief; :13
SUPER=03-Montgomery Co.; :29
SUPER=01-Capt. O.P. Ramsey/Montgomery Co. Sheriff's Dept.; :46
SUPER=03-Giles Co.; :57
SUPER=01-E. L. Montgomery/Narrows Police; 1:14
RUNS=1:33
OUT Q=Giles County jail.
((22 year- old Alexander DeFilippis waited in his car while his cousin entered the convenience store to copy some papers.
His cousin called police after a witness alerted him to trouble outside.
(/////SOT/////)
SOT
((BILL BROWN/BLACKSBURG POLICE CHIEF: A COLLEGE-AGE MALE WENT INTO THE HETHWOOD EXPRESS AND SAYS "YOUR FRIEND OUT THERE IS BEING ABDUCTED." AND WHEN HE WENT OUTSIDE TO CHECK ON HIS FRIEND, THE CAR WAS GONE AND HIS FRIEND WAS GONE. ))
RUNS=:12

Brown says the three suspects abandoned a vehicle that ran out of gas outside the store.
They allegedly drove the victim's car to the Whitethorn area of Montgomery County, where police say they forced DeFilippis to get out of the car, take off his clothes and start walking.
Police say a cooperative suspect told them Ben Lilly then shot DeFilippis in the head, and also told them where to find the body.
(/////SOT/////)
SOT 23:30:33
((CAPT. O.P. RAMSEY/MONTGOMERY CO. SHERIFF'S DEPT.: GILES CALLED BLACKSBURG, BLACKSBURG NOTIFIED OUR DEPARTMENT, THAT SENT THE DEPUTY DOWN HERE CHECKING THIS AREA, WHICH LED TO THE DISCOVERY OF THE BODY. ))
RUNS=:11

Ramsey says the three suspects drove on to Giles County, where they allegedly held up two convenience stores.
Authorities apprehended two of the men when they stopped near Eggleston in the victim's car.
They say Ben Lilly surrendered peacefully. They found another man, Gary Barker hiding nearby.
(/////SOT/////)
SOT 19:25:35
((E.L. MONTGOMERY/NARROWS POLICE: AND THEN WE OBSERVED ONE INDIVIDUAL DOWN THERE WITH A RIFLE, SITTING DOWN IN THE GULLEY, AND HE HAD THE RIFLE TO HIS HEAD, SAID HE WAS GONNA BLOW HIS HEAD OFF. ))
RUNS=:10

Police captured Ben Lilly's brother, Mark Lilly running along route 460 in Pembroke.
All three suspects are being held without bond in the Giles County jail.))
ANCHOR=Melanie

Authorities in Floyd County also suspect the three in a breaking and entering there earlier yesterday.
Two guns were stolen, one of which is believed to have been the murder weapon.

7Thompson

ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=cutin
WRITER=KHu
TAPE#95-94
GRAPHIC=NONE

Accused capital killer Paul David Thompson reached a plea bargain on the criminal charges he faces in WEST Virginia.
(----------------)
VO-NAT
SUPER=03-Roanoke/Yesterday

He's expected to enter a guilty plea in Fairmont, BEFORE he's tried in Roanoke for the robbery and murder of Virgie Green.
Thompson's attorneys advised the judge in ROANOKE yesterday they expect Thompson will be sentenced to "LIFE without mercy" in West Virginia.
That means the 26- year- old killer will have NO chance of parole in that case.
Prosecutors HERE will ask the jury for a DEATH sentence.
The judge agreed to bring in one HUNDRED potential jurors for the lawyers to chose from.
SUPER=04-November, 1994

Green's body was found in the trunk of a car behind her home in Old Southwest last year.
Trial in that case is set to begin Monday.
(----------------)

7Jobs

ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=Cutin
WRITER=bmy
TAPE# edit of
GRAPHIC=layoffs

The Volvo G-M Heavy Truck Corporation is laying off up to two hundred- fifty hourly and salaried workers in January.
(----------------)
VO-NAT
SUPER=03-Dublin/File Tape;

Yesterday, the company announced it would reduce it's staff by one hundred workers next month.
In November, the plant announced plans to lay off one hundred to one hundred fifty workers.
Volvo says the lay offs are necessary because the number of truck orders at the plant has been decreasing.
The plant currently produces 80 trucks a day, but will reduce it's production to 64 trucks per day in January.
(----------------)

7weather

ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=cutin
WRITER=nle
TAPE#
GRAPHIC=

Turning now to weather -
Quite a change from earlier in the week - temperatures today will only reach the 40s.
A chance of snow tonight -
Lows in the upper 20s

55Abduction

ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=cutin
WRITER=tal
TAPE#95-
GRAPHIC=murder

A 22 year- old Virginia Tech student is dead, the victim of a CRIME SPREE last night that may involve FOUR jurisdictions in the New River Valley.
(----------------)
VO-NAT

Police say 22 year- old Alexander DeFilippis was abducted while sitting in his car at the Hethwood (HEETH-wood) Express store in Blacksburg.
On a tip from one of THREE suspects, SUPER=03-Montgomery Co.;
police found the victim's body in the White-thorn area of Montgomery County.
Authorities suspect DeFilippis may have been killed with a gun stolen in Floyd County earlier yesterday.
(/////SOT/////)
SOT 23:27:19
((CAPT. O.P. RAMSEY/MONTGOMERY CO. SHERIFF'S DEPT.: THE INFORMATION WE HAVE RIGHT NOW, THIS BOY WAS SHOT WITH A .38, AND WE'RE LOOKING AT THE POSSIBILITY THAT THE GUN THAT WAS STOLEN FROM FLOYD WAS THE WEAPON THAT WAS USED IN THE MURDER. ))
SUPER=01-Capt. O.P. Ramsey/Montgomery Co. Sheriff's Dept.;
RUNS=:13
OUT Q=in the murder.
(----------------)
VO-NAT
SUPER=03-Giles Co.;

The suspects were apprehended after they allegedly held up two convenience stores in Giles County.
Ben Lilly, his brother Mark Lilly, and Gary Barker are all charged with armed robbery there.
They could face capital murder charges in Montgomery County.
(-------------)

55Gays-Military

ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=Cutin
WRITER=equ
TAPE#95-97
GRAPHIC=NONE

In Richmond, eyes were on the federal courts yesterday as President Clinton's "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy on gays in the military made it to its first federal appeals court.
Ellen Qualls has the story.
(/////SOT/////)
SOT
IN Q=The full
SUPER=03-Richmond/Yesterday; :00
SUPER=01-Paul Thomasson/Former Navy Lieutenant; :13
SUPER=@file; :39
SUPER=@Ellen2; :50
SUPER=01-Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis/Family Research Council; :56
SUPER=01-Allan Moore/Thomasson's Attorney; 1:08
RUNS=1:28
OUT Q=Qualls, News 7, Richmond.
(( All 13 judges in Richmond's federal appeals court presided over a standing room only court.
Former Navy Lieutenant Paul Thomasson started it all when he told his commander he was gay.
The Navy discharged him.
SOT 03:14:11
((PAUL THOMASSON/FORMER NAVY LIEUTENANT: I HOPE THAT THEY FIND THAT THIS POLICY THAT -- THAT -- SORRY -- THIS POLICY THAT TELLS GAY AND LESBIAN SERVICE MEMBERS THAT THEY CAN GO IN HARM'S WAY FOR THEIR COUNTRY, BUT THAT THEY CAN'T COME OUT AND TRY TO DISPEL THE STEREOTYPES OR OVERCOME THE PREJUDICE WITH WHICH THEY SUFFER IS ABSOLUTELY INIMICAL TO THE VERY CONSTITUTION THAT THEY'VE ALL SWORN TO DEFEND.))
RUNS=:26

The Justice Department is defending Bill Clinton's "don't ask, don't tell" compromise -- arguing that "telling" could imply one was engaging in homosexual sex.
THAT would be a Navy no no.
The ultra-conservative Family Research Council argued against Thomasson, too -- but with a different spin.
sot 03:18:07
((LT. COL. ROBERT MAGINNIS/FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: BACK IN '93, THE CONGRESS PASSED A LAW AFTER A GREAT DEBATE IN THIS COUNTRY, AND THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION DECIDED TO SUBVERT THE LAW. TO IGNORE THE FACT THAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DON'T WANT HOMOSEXUALS TO SERVE. AND THEY ARE NOW ALLOWING HOMOSEXUALS TO SERVE.))
RUNS=:12

sot 03:15:26
((ALLAN MOORE/THOMASSON'S ATTORNEY: THE POINT HERE IS THAT POLICY ADMITS THAT SEXUAL ORIENTATION IS NOT A BAR TO SERVICE, AND PEOPLE KEEP OVERLOOKING THAT POINT.06 SO AS LONG AS IT'S OKAY TO BE GAY AND SERVE, THE STATEMENT "I AM GAY" DOESN'T SAY ANYTHING THAT'S ACTIONABLE.))
RUNS=:12

The appeals court will NOT rule before next year.
Whatever the outcome, the question will likely end up at the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ellen Qualls, News 7, Richmond.))

55Ax

ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=morn
WRITER=kmc
TAPE#edit of 95-110
GRAPHIC=NONE

And three people were injured last night when the vehicle they were riding in flipped over an embankment in Roanoke County.
(----------------)
VO-NAT
SUPER=03-Roanoke Co./Last Night;

Police say 23-year-old George Pritchard of Roanoke County was northbound on Olsen Road when he came upon a sharp curve.
Pritchard and his two passengers, Allison Brown and Daniel Fletcher - both 23 - were taken to Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
None of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.
Authorities say Pritchard has been charged with failing to maintain control of his vehicle.
(----------------)

8Monty-Murder

ANCHOR=melanie
NEWSCAST=morning
WRITER=tal
TAPE#95-102
GRAPHIC=Murder

Three suspects in a New River Valley crime spree could rack up charges including abduction, murder and armed robbery.
It began at a Blacksburg convenience store last night at the Hethwood Express store on Heather Drive sometime before nine p.m.
Police responded to a report that a Virginia Tech student may have been abducted from the parking lot.
Tracy Altizer has more.
(/////SOT/////)
SOT
IN Q=22 year- old Alexander
SUPER=03-Blacksburg; :05
SUPER=01-Bill Brown/Blacksburg Police Chief; :13
SUPER=03-Montgomery Co.; :29
SUPER=01-Capt. O.P. Ramsey/Montgomery Co. Sheriff's Dept.; :46
SUPER=03-Giles Co.; :57
SUPER=01-E. L. Montgomery/Narrows Police; 1:14
RUNS=1:33
OUT Q=Giles County jail.
((22 year- old Alexander DeFilippis waited in his car while his cousin entered the convenience store to copy some papers.
His cousin called police after a witness alerted him to trouble outside.
(/////SOT/////)
SOT
((BILL BROWN/BLACKSBURG POLICE CHIEF: A COLLEGE-AGE MALE WENT INTO THE HETHWOOD EXPRESS AND SAYS "YOUR FRIEND OUT THERE IS BEING ABDUCTED." AND WHEN HE WENT OUTSIDE TO CHECK ON HIS FRIEND, THE CAR WAS GONE AND HIS FRIEND WAS GONE. ))
RUNS=:12

Brown says the three suspects abandoned a vehicle that ran out of gas outside the store.
They allegedly drove the victim's car to the Whitethorn area of Montgomery County, where police say they forced DeFilippis to get out of the car, take off his clothes and start walking.
Police say a cooperative suspect told them Ben Lilly then shot DeFilippis in the head, and also told them where to find the body.
(/////SOT/////)
SOT 23:30:33
((CAPT. O.P. RAMSEY/MONTGOMERY CO. SHERIFF'S DEPT.: GILES CALLED BLACKSBURG, BLACKSBURG NOTIFIED OUR DEPARTMENT, THAT SENT THE DEPUTY DOWN HERE CHECKING THIS AREA, WHICH LED TO THE DISCOVERY OF THE BODY. ))
RUNS=:11

Ramsey says the three suspects drove on to Giles County, where they allegedly held up two convenience stores.
Authorities apprehended two of the men when they stopped near Eggleston in the victim's car.
They say Ben Lilly surrendered peacefully. They found another man, Gary Barker hiding nearby.
(/////SOT/////)
SOT 19:25:35
((E.L. MONTGOMERY/NARROWS POLICE: AND THEN WE OBSERVED ONE INDIVIDUAL DOWN THERE WITH A RIFLE, SITTING DOWN IN THE GULLEY, AND HE HAD THE RIFLE TO HIS HEAD, SAID HE WAS GONNA BLOW HIS HEAD OFF. ))
RUNS=:10

Police captured Ben Lilly's brother, Mark Lilly running along route 460 in Pembroke.
All three suspects are being held without bond in the Giles County jail.))
ANCHOR=Melanie

Authorities in Floyd County also suspect the three in a breaking and entering there earlier yesterday.
Two guns were stolen, one of which is believed to have been the murder weapon.