Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 28, 1993 TAG: 9301280074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
ROBBERY IN PLAN, JURY TOLD
WHEN THE BODY of an elderly man was found in a burning car, Roanoke police first thought he had died in a traffic accident. A jury is hearing a different story.
Douglas Webb, a 71-year-old retired mail carrier, was known for spending his money on friends and neighbors in his Southeast Roanoke neighborhood.
His generosity may have killed him.
On the night of Sept. 3, Webb had just bought a 19-inch color television set for one of his friends, Lewis Winston Draper Jr.
As Webb dozed off that night in front of the TV, Draper stood a few feet away and discussed plans to rob him of whatever money was left, a jury was told Wednesday.
Draper's trial began in Roanoke Circuit Court with the 24-year-old admitting that he helped rob Webb in the back seat of a car while cruising through Southeast Roanoke.
But Draper denied any involvement in what happened next. Webb was choked to death as his pockets were emptied, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom told the jury, then left behind as the car was rammed into a parked tractor-trailer and set on fire.
In statements to police, Draper blamed his cousin. Gary W. Draper Jr. is also charged with murder and robbery and will be tried later.
Branscom said both cousins lured Webb from his easy chair that night on the ruse of looking for a laundromat for some late-night washing.
After Webb was robbed and left in the burning car on a 12th Street parking lot, Branscom told the jury, the Drapers returned to their Eighth Street home to count the stolen money. It came to $11 in change.
"Y'all did all this for just eleven damn dollars," Winston Draper told police his wife had said.
Then they drove to a convenience store and spent the money on cigarettes, soft drinks and junk food, Winston Draper told police.
Meanwhile, police and firefighters were trying to figure out what had happened to Webb. Because the impact of the collision had jammed the doors shut, authorities at first speculated that he had died of smoke inhalation after wrecking his car.
Several things didn't make sense, though. Webb's body was found in the back seat. And there was no soot in his nostrils, as there would have been had his last breaths been of smoke.
After an autopsy showed that Webb was dead before the fire was set, Detective N.W. Tolrud started an investigation that ultimately led him to the Drapers.
In court Wednesday, several taped statements that Winston Draper made to Tolrud were played to the jury.
Although both cousins have made confusing and conflicting statements in which they implicated each other, both admit they set out to rob Webb that night.
Because the robbery and killing did not involve a deadly weapon, they are not charged with capital murder. They face two life terms on charges of first-degree murder and robbery.
According to Winston Draper's statement, this is how it happened:
The plan was made after Webb spent $60 on the television as a gift. With Winston Draper driving and Webb in the front seat, they set out supposedly to find a laundromat.
After Winston Draper pulled the car over on Church Avenue Southeast, Gary Draper got out and then climbed in the back seat with a blanket that he used to cover Webb's head.
"All of a sudden the thing went over Doug and Doug was feisty; he was fighting back," Winston Draper said in the taped statement. "He was kicking and stuff."
Draper said he never hit the man, but admitted he held his hands while his cousin rummaged through his pockets - and even his socks - in search of money.
When Webb eventually stopped struggling, the Drapers rode around for half an hour looking for a spot to dump the body.
Winston Draper told Tolrud that he walked away from the car, leaving his cousin to dispose of the body. As they walked home, he told the detective, his cousin said he had "put Doug in the front seat and poured a 40-ounce beer on him to act like he was drinking, you know, and wrecked himself."
That's contradicted by evidence that Webb's body was found in the back seat, however.
Draper's attorney, Terry Grimes, did not present a clear defense in his opening arguments. Instead, he asked jurors to listen carefully to the evidence about how Webb died, and whether his killing was deliberate and premeditated.
At the end of Wednesday's testimony, prosecutors rested their case. The trial is scheduled to resume this morning at 9.
Staff writer Jessica Martin contributed to this story.
Keywords:
ROMUR