Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 7, 1991 TAG: 9103070378
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-6 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX LENGTH: Short
Carol Hughes told a Fairfax County Circuit Court jury that her husband, Caleb, was home about 11:30 on the night of Dec. 3, 1989, the night Melissa Brannen disappeared from a party at her Lorton apartment complex.
Police testimony indicated that the 25-year-old Hughes, formerly of Blacksburg and Christiansburg, did not return home until about 1 o'clock the next morning.
Fairfax police testified earlier in the trial that the suspect had been consistently unable to account for his whereabouts in the first few hours after the child's disappearance.
Carol Hughes testified that her husband walked into their bedroom about 12:20 in the morning after he washed a load of clothes.
During cross-examination by Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Horan, Carol Hughes was asked about three telephone calls she received from authorities who were trying to locate the missing girl and who asked if her husband was home.
She also made two phone calls to a bar that her husband was known to frequent asking of his whereabouts before she saw him, Horan said.
Hughes said she had assumed her husband was not home because she did not see him.
by CNB