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

DATE: SUNDAY, March 22, 1992                   TAG: 9203220193
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: D1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLAND                                LENGTH: Short

GIRL RESCUED FROM ROAD ESCAPED SUICIDE PACT

An 11-year-old girl who was rescued Saturday from the median strip of Interstate 77 in Bland County told police her parents abandoned her after she refused to go along with their suicide pact.

The girl's parents - Lorne Wayne Cooper, 27, and his wife, Cassandra, 30, of Woodbridge - were arrested by West Virginia State Police about 9:30 p.m. near Beckley, W.Va.

The girl's 5-year-old brother, who still was with his parents, was unharmed.

Virginia State Trooper D.P. Whittemore said a passing motorist picked up the girl south of Exit 62, near Rocky Gap, just past noon. She was in the custody of the Bland County Social Services Department on Saturday, awaiting relatives.

The family had been visiting relatives at New Heritage USA, the religious resort near Charlotte, N.C.

Police up and down the East Coast had been alerted to look out for the Coopers' car, which was spotted near Beckley a few hours before the couple was arrested.

The Coopers have been charged with child abandonment, Whittemore said.

by CNB