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

DATE: SUNDAY, May 6, 1990                   TAG: 9005060190
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                                LENGTH: Medium

MOTHER, DAUGHTER, 10, SLAIN IN NEWPORT NEWS

The body of Virginia W. Johnson, 41, was discovered about 4:15 a.m. on a balcony of Newport Towers, a 15-story apartment building where she lived with her daughter, Eatrice, said Sgt. Michael Brewer, a police spokesman.

The child's body was found about three hours later by police searching the banks of the James River, which flows past the apartment building.

Brewer said autopsies were being conducted to determine how the victims were killed.

Johnson and her daughter lived in a 13th-floor apartment with Johnson's brother, William Wallace, Brewer said. He said Johnson and her husband were separated.

Wallace told police he left the apartment at 9 p.m. Friday and returned home about 2:45 a.m., Brewer said. Wallace had difficulty getting in the apartment and knocked on the door for about an hour trying to rouse his sister, Brewer said.

A next-door neighbor came out to see what the noise was and Wallace asked the neighbor to go next door through the connecting balconies and knock on the window. When the neighbor opened the balcony door he found Johnson's body on his balcony, Brewer said.

Brewer said Wallace told police that when he left Friday evening his sister and niece were in the apartment.

"We are currently following up active leads, but to say we have a suspect is premature," Brewer said.

"We believe she knew her killer," he said. "We are not looking at a stranger" slaying. He said police have not been able to determine if there was a forced entry into Johnson's apartment.