Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 23, 1990 TAG: 9006230306
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Serena Diane Cook, 35, returned to Franklin County on Friday following her release from the Virginia Correctional Center for Women in Goochland.
Cook, a mother of four, was convicted in March 1988 of the second-degree murder of Rhoda Price Lancaster of Knob Hill Road.
Franklin County Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood said it was unfair that Cook was free while her two co-defendants are still incarcerated. "The mastermind of the killing gets out in 32 months," Hapgood said. "There's something wrong when the system does that."
Hapgood described Cook as the instigator of a burglary attempt on June 20, 1987 that ended in Lancaster's death. The woman's body was discovered seven days later at the bottom of a well off Virginia 718.
Dwayne "Red" Stockton was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to 60 years in prison. Barry S. Woody pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
At Cook's trial, testimony showed that the three loaded Lancaster's body into the trunk of Cook's car and drove to a video store to rent a cartoon and three X-rated films.
After they returned to Cook's house on Maynor Street, they sat on the front porch discussing how to dispose of Lancaster's body while Cook's children watched the cartoon inside, testimony showed.
They came up with the idea of dumping the body in a well south of Rocky Mount that Cook knew about. So the three and Cook's four children - who were oblivious to the contents of the trunk - climbed into her car and headed for the Sontag section of Franklin County.
Woody testified that Cook and her children were dropped off at the nearby Franklin County Recreation Park before he and Stockton dumped Lancaster's body in the well.
by CNB