Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 11, 1992 TAG: 9202110163
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
PULASKI MURDER SUSPECT'S BOND IS SET AT $200,000
Bond was set at $200,000 Monday for Ronnie Allen Weatherman, a Wythe County man charged last week with the May 1990 capital murder of Timothy Dean Prim.Weatherman, 22, also faces a charge of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Prim, 27, who was shot to death, was found by a hunter May 3, 1990, at the base of Gatewood Dam. His body had 12 bullet wounds.
In Pulaski County General District Court Monday, Weatherman's court-appointed attorneys, Jimmy Turk and Joey Showalter of Radford, asked Judge George Cooley to set a reasonable bond, saying their client was not a flight risk. Weatherman lives with his mother and is a lifelong resident of Wythe County with no felony convictions, Showalter said.
Turk asked Cooley to consider a combined cash and property bond, saying no one family member would be able to post a large bond. After the hearing, Turk said he doubted Weatherman would be able to make bond unless family members pooled their resources.
A March 30 preliminary hearing was scheduled.
Weatherman was arrested Feb. 3 at his home after a fresh lead was obtained in the 21-month investigation by Al Crane, assistant special agent with the Wytheville division of state police, Pulaski Police Chief E.J. Williams said last week.
Police have said the evidence uncovered so far indicates robbery was the motive for the killing of the Allisonia man.
Pulaski police were assisted in the investigation by the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office, Virginia State Police, Wytheville Sheriff's Department and the Fries Police Department, Williams said.
Police also have a second suspect whose name has not been released because the investigation into Prim's death is continuing and the suspect is cooperating with authorities.