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

DATE: THURSDAY, June 7, 1990                   TAG: 9006070351
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By NEAL THOMPSON NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Short

SUSPECT IN WOMAN'S SLAYING TO BE EVALUATED

Attorneys for the man accused of killing a Newbern woman in October have asked a judge to allow a mental evaluation before he is tried.

Richard Bradley Akers, 30, of Radford is charged with rape and capital murder in the slaying of 26-year-old Melanie Sue Davis.

Akers' attorneys, Cynthia Dodge of the Pulaski County Public Defender's Office, and Frank Terwilliger, asked Pulaski County Circuit Judge A. Dow Owens on Tuesday to allow the mental evaluation.

Owens granted the motion, and Akers is scheduled to be evaluated by doctors at the Health Sciences Center at the University of Virginia.

Akers was arrested Oct. 19, the day after Davis' partly clothed body was found behind the water tower off U.S. 11 in Fairlawn.

In statements given to police at the time of his arrest, Akers said he and Davis and a few friends had been driving around and drinking beer that night. He said he and Davis later had sex behind the water tower, but that he did not rape her.

According to Akers' statements, which were read at a previous hearing, he admitted he pulled out a knife and cut Davis' throat after she laughed at him, at which point "everything went black."

Akers has been held without bond in the Giles County Jail, where he was transferred because one of Davis' relatives was being held in the Pulaski County Jail.

by CNB