SUSPECT IN SLAYING TRIES TO KILL HIMSELF

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

DATE: FRIDAY, February 12, 1993                   TAG: 9302120207
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
SUSPECT IN SLAYING TRIES TO KILL HIMSELF
A man charged Wednesday afternoon in the slaying of his wife tried to kill himself Wednesday evening in the Roanoke City Jail.
Roanoke Sheriff's Maj. George McMillan said a preliminary investigation shows that Walter Anderson cut his neck with a razor blade about 8 p.m.
Jailers had checked on Anderson at 7:55 p.m., and then found him bleeding when they checked his cell again at 8:08 p.m.
"He didn't say anything to the deputies," McMillan said. "They just found him bleeding."
McMillan said Anderson had been searched when he was taken to a holding cell after being admitted to the jail at 4:22 p.m.
Inmates are not required to undergo a visual search without clothing until they are processed and placed into a permanent cell, McMillian said.
Anderson apparently taped the razor blade to his body at his crotch, McMillian said.
The sheriff's department is conducting an internal investigation to ascertain whether proper procedures were followed. McMillan said he initially had no indications of wrongdoing by jail personnel.
Anderson, 36, was charged Wednesday in the death of his estranged wife, Delphine Anderson. Her strangled body was found hidden underneath a lawn mower and blankets in her Bunche Drive apartment. The body was discovered by the couple's teen-age daughter.
McMillan said Walter Anderson was taken to Community Hospital after receiving initial treatment from jail medics and city rescue workers. He was in the intensive care unit at the hospital.
McMillan said the suspect should be returned to the jail within three or four days.
Keywords:
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by Archana Subramaniam by CNB