Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 20, 1990 TAG: 9005200131
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
He couldn't pay the price.
Now, Ware, 24, faces a murder charge as he sits in a Kansas jail without bond. He's accused of slashing a Roanoke woman's throat Thursday morning, sending her 8-year-old son leaping from a second-story window in terror.
Police found Ophelia Laverne Wiley bleeding to death in a downstairs hallway in her Hanover Avenue house.
They found Ware Friday evening hunkering behind an evergreen tree near several Lawrence businesses.
Police had tracked him from Roanoke to Covington to Mount Vernon, Ill. At each stop, he would leave another crime as a calling card, police said.
The hunt for Ware began shortly after Wiley's weeping son ran to a neighbor's house for help about 8:30 a.m. Thursday.
Authorities say they believe Ware slashed Wiley, then ran to a nearby housing project where he hitched a ride to Covington with an unsuspecting motorist. When the man stopped his van near Aides Discount store in Covington, he left the keys in the van so the suspect could listen to the radio, police said.
When the man came back out of the store, the van was missing.
The stolen van was later found in Mount Vernon, Ill., where police say Ware stole another car.
Friday evening, police said, Ware drove a car bearing Illinois tags to a toll booth on an off-ramp from Interstate 70.
A toll-booth attendant asked him to pay, and Ware said he had no money, according to police.
He was told to pull the car over to the side, while the attendant called for a Kansas state trooper.
Police said Ware then fled on foot.
When the trooper arrived, he ran a computer check on the car's license tag. The computer said it was believed to have been stolen by a murder suspect from Virginia.
Ware was arrested later without incident, and he is scheduled to appear in court Monday to set a date for an extradition hearing.
Wiley was a friendly woman who took good care of her two young sons, neighbors said. Police found her 2-year-old son asleep in his room following the fatal slashing.
They're still searching for a motive in the crime.
by CNB