JUDGE CERTIFIES WIFE-KILLING CHARGE

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

DATE: FRIDAY, April 9, 1993                   TAG: 9304090353
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Laurence Hammack
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
JUDGE CERTIFIES WIFE-KILLING CHARGE
A Roanoke judge found probable cause Thursday to support a murder charge against a man accused of strangling his estranged wife and leaving her body in a closet.
Walter Anderson, 36, was in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court on Thursday for a preliminary hearing on charges of killing Delphine Anderson.
After hearing testimony that indicated the killing stemmed from a marital dispute, Judge Joseph Clarke certified a murder charge to the grand jury.
According to Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Alice Ekirch, Anderson admitted to Detective Neil Tolrud that he had choked his estranged wife for several minutes during an argument Feb. 9 at her Lincoln Terrace apartment.
During a struggle that started when Delphine Anderson refused to discuss the failing marriage, insulin was poured down her throat before she was strangled, Ekirch said.
Anderson told police his wife was still breathing when he left her in a large closet, Ekirch said.
The body was discovered the next day by Anderson's 15-year-old daughter, who had spent the night in the apartment wondering where her mother was.
Anderson also pleaded no contest to assaulting the daughter one week before the killing. He received a 60-day jail sentence.
In that case, Anderson had entered the unlocked apartment and demanded to know where his wife was. He brandished a knife before being subdued by one of the girl's friends.
Assistant Public Defender Steve Milani asked Clarke to set a bond for his client, who attempted suicide shortly after being charged with murder. But Clarke ordered that he be held without bond.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB