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

DATE: FRIDAY, February 15, 1991                   TAG: 9102150245
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

COVINGTON TEEN GOES ON TRIAL IN SLAYING

The trial of a Covington teen-ager charged in the stabbing death of 74-year-old widow began Thursday despite a last-ditch bid by defense attorneys to have the trial moved.

Troy Malcom, 19, is charged with first-degree murder, breaking and entering and robbery in the death of Dorothy Balsey. Last November, Rocky Dale Rogers was found guilty of murdering, raping and robbing Balsey, who had lived at 314 E. Prospect St. since she was 9.

If convicted by the jury of nine men and three women, Malcom would spend at least 20 years in prison. Rogers, 25, has been sentenced to death in the electric chair.

Malcom and Rogers lived less than a block from Balsey, who was attacked Jan. 9, 1990. Just about every bone in her face was broken; her hands, legs, and neck were bruised; and she was stabbed four times, including twice in the heart.

The Covington Police Department had been criticized for months for not arresting Malcom and Rogers more quickly. Both were suspects in about 15 break-ins that occurred in Balsey's neighborhood in the weeks before her murder. It was Covington's first homicide in five years.

by CNB