Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 27, 1991 TAG: 9103270538
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WINCHESTER LENGTH: Medium
Jeffrey Woods, who was a prisoner with Henderson at the Augusta County Jail in Staunton, said Henderson first denied any involvement in the killing. But he said Henderson's story changed the more he told it, each time admitting more and more participation.
Finally, Woods said he overheard Henderson tell another inmate at the jail, Michael Wiseman, that he dropped the rock on Whitlock while Tommy David Strickler held her down.
Wiseman will not be testifying against Henderson, but Commonwealth's Attorney A. Lee Ervin would not say why.
Woods was in jail in Staunton on two drug charges for allegedly attempting to sell $9,000 worth of marijuana, which could have carried a sentence of 10 years in prison.
In exchange for his testimony today, one of the charges against Woods was dropped and he was placed on three years' probation with no additional jail time.
The version Henderson has admitted in a confession he gave to police in Oregon, however, was much different from what Woods testified.
That account began at Valley Mall in Harrisonburg on the night of Jan. 5, 1990.
Henderson said he was hanging out with Strickler. They had been drinking and taking drugs, and they decided to steal a car, he said on the tape. They combed the parking lot for an unlocked car with the keys still in the ignition but came up empty.
Then a young woman drove up in a blue car. Henderson said he watched while Strickler forced his way into the car, pushed the woman into the back seat and yelled for him to get in and start driving.
They drove into Augusta County, where Strickler told him to pull onto a dirt road off of U.S. 340 outside Waynesboro. There, Strickler suggested they rape the woman, Henderson said in the police interview. He refused.
"I said, `No, I'm not going to do that.' I said we should let her go." But Strickler persisted, he said. They argued and got into a shoving match. Then Strickler gave up and let the woman run free into a cornfield.
She ran about 20 yards before Strickler changed his mind, chased her down and forced her back into the car, Henderson said on the tape. They argued again; he got out, leaving Strickler and the woman in the car alone; and he headed back down the dirt road toward U.S. 340.
Henderson next said in the taped confession that he returned a short time later to try to persuade Strickler once more to let the woman go.
He said by then it appeared that Strickler already had raped her.
They argued again and the woman escaped, he said. This time she got farther away.
But Strickler chased her down again and when he reached her, Henderson said, he watched Strickler pick up a large rock and hit the woman over the head.
Henderson said he tried to stop the beating, but before he could reach the woman it was too late.
Scared, he said he next helped Strickler hide the woman's body in the woods.
Henderson's full statement was played for the jury by Keith Rogers, a police detective from Baker City, Ore., where Henderson was arrested.
On the tape, Rogers repeatedly asked Henderson if he raped or killed the woman. Each time, Henderson said he did not. He only admitted to abducting and robbing her.
"I'm not lying to get myself out of anything," he told Rogers. "I don't even know if I can get out of this."
Henderson, 25, is on trial for capital murder, abduction and robbery. If convicted he could face the death penalty.
Strickler already has been convicted of capital murder in the case and is awaiting execution.
by CNB