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

DATE: SUNDAY, March 10, 1991                   TAG: 9103100214
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: E-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                                LENGTH: Medium

16-YEAR-OLD CHARGED WITH BOYS' KILLINGS

At an afternoon news conference, Police Chief Charles Wall said the unidentified teen-ager was arrested shortly before noon at police headquarters. Wall declined to say what led police to the suspect.

The bodies of 7-year-old Christopher Scot Weaver and 9-year-old Daniel Geier were found Tuesday evening in a wooded area near Birdneck Lake. The throats of both boys had been slashed. The bodies of the two friends were covered with leaves, sticks and pine branches.

The boys were last seen alive Monday afternoon. Their bicycles were found less than a half-hour after they left their homes. One bike had been thrown into a lake by children who were playing there, and the other bicycle was found partially submerged in a swampy area about 30 feet from shore. The bodies were found about a quarter-mile south of the lake.

Neighbors said the wooded area is often used by neighborhood children for play.

Wall said the 16-year-old was a resident of the neighborhood.

The arrest did little to relieve neighbors.

"We will still be definitely more restrictive," said Susan Mooney, 33, of Birdneck Lakes. "I use to let my son run ahead of me when we came back from the playground, but not anymore."

"Yeah, I'm relieved, if it's the person," said Wayne DeAtley, 33, a information systems director. "But I'm kind of skeptical. I'm wondering if it's the culprit to the problem, if it's the real assailant. It's a 16-year-old boy, not a man who would have the knowledge, the strength and the expertise to do something like that. How could a 16-year-old's mind think to do something like that?"

The commonwealth's attorney is expected to asked that the youth be tried as an adult.

Police have assigned nearly two dozen detectives to the case, have logged thousands of phone tips and have even accepted suggestions from psychics.

Scot's mother, Tammy Weaver, who is stationed aboard the destroyer tender Yellowstone, has been notified of her son's death and is being sent home. A family friend said the boy's mother was expected home today.

About $7,000 has been raised for a reward fund, police said.

About 25 volunteers used metal detectors Saturday to searching the area for additional clues.

Also, the Little Creek Bass Masters planned a fishing tournament today to raise money for the boys' families.