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

DATE: TUESDAY, March 26, 1991                   TAG: 9103260342
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: VICTORIA RATCLIFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

`IT COULD HAVE BEEN ANY ONE OF US'

The names and telephone numbers of Barbara Fogle and Cheryl Ham were written on a notepad found in Rogers' car after her death on Oct. 11.

A fingerprint on the pad led to the arrests of Becky and Danny King, a Montgomery County couple who have been charged with murdering and robbing Rogers and then forging and passing two of her checks.

Becky King, whose murder trial began Monday, has admitted calling Rogers under the name of Becky Keaton and asking her to show the Kings the vacant $159,000 house in the Kings Chase subdivision.

Fogle testified in Roanoke County Circuit Court on Monday that she, too, had received a call from a woman identifying herself as Mrs. Keaton about 9:46 a.m. Oct. 11. The woman asked Fogle's secretary if Fogle could show her a house in the Branderwood subdivision, about a half-mile from the Foxcroft Circle house.

Because Fogle already was showing houses to clients from out of town when the call came in, her secretary took a message, and Fogle never spoke with the woman, she said.

Ham, who also works as an agent for Boone & Co., testified that she was working on Oct. 11, but never received a telephone call from a Becky Keaton. Ham's name, telephone numbers and the address of a house she had listed also were written on the notepad found in Rogers' car.

"It could have been any one of us," Ham said after she testified Monday.

She and Fogle said that they would have gone alone to show a house to Becky King and her husband had they received a telephone call similar to the one Rogers received.

Until October, real estate agents didn't worry about calls from women, Ham and Fogle said. Rogers probably didn't worry either, they said.

But all of that has changed.

Both women said they rarely show houses now on "cold calls," from people who simply call and ask to see a house. For several weeks after Rogers' death, "anybody who called off of a sign, I'd tell you it's sold," Ham said.

"Who cares about commission when your life's at stake?" Fogle said.

Both women said they will not hold open houses by themselves now.

"I feel like we're in more danger now," Fogle said. "It's a high-profile job as it is, but it's even more dangerous now. We're very cautious of who we show houses to."

Ham and Fogle said they learned from police officers that their names and telephone numbers were on the notepad along with Rogers' name and number.

How did it make them feel?

"Horrible," Ham said.

Keywords:
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