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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 13, 1991                   TAG: 9102130615
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

PAROLEE CHARGED IN GIRL'S DEATH

A Chester man faces a murder charge in the death of Charity Amberly Powers, the 10-year-old whose remains were found near the suspect's home four months after she disappeared, police said.

Everette Lee Mueller, 42, was being held without bond Tuesday in the Chesterfield County jail, authorities said. He was scheduled to appear in court today.

Mueller, a paroled rapist, was questioned by police three days after Charity disappeared in October. The unemployed laborer lives a few hundred yards from where the girl's remains were discovered in a shallow grave Friday, police said.

Police and Commonwealth's Attorney William Davenport declined to release details of how they have linked Mueller to the homicide.

A state medical examiner identified the remains as Charity's using dental records, said Capt. James P. Bourque, commander of investigations for Chesterfield police.

"No justice in this world is enough justice for taking my girl's life," said Taryn Potts, Charity's mother. "Part of me right now is numb, I can't accept it . . . I just don't believe it."

Two days after Charity disappeared Oct. 6, police announced they were seeking a man driving a station wagon who was the last person seen talking to her.

The night she disappeared from an area skating rink, Charity was to have been picked up by a baby-sitter, who had been watching Pott's other two children. But the baby-sitter apparently fell asleep and didn't wake up until 1:45 a.m.

He went looking for Charity, but by the time he arrived at the rink shortly after 2 a.m., Charity was gone, Potts said.

Charity apparently couldn't call home because the family's telephone had been knocked off the hook by Potts' youngest child, Potts had said.

Bourque said the medical examiner's office and detectives are still working to determine how Charity died.

Police declined to discuss Mueller's prior criminal record, but Chesterfield Circuit Court records show that he pleaded guilty on Feb. 3, 1977, to raping an 18-year-old woman inside a trailer.

by CNB