Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 15, 1993 TAG: 9304150130
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
MISTRIAL JUST CASE'S LATEST TWIST
Wednesday's mistrial was the latest twist in the puzzling, 10-month-old case surrounding the murder of shoe store manager Lorna Crockett.
Crockett was abducted and killed after making a night deposit, meaning her killers received no monetary benefit other than some change that might have been in her purse.
About five hours later, Stuart Arbuckle, then a manager of Domino's Pizza store in Blacksburg, was almost held up just after he made a night deposit at a bank on South Main Street. He, too, was able to complete the deposit.
Arbuckle, 25, then dialed 911 on his car's cellular phone and followed his assailants until police stopped the car.
Arbuckle was praised by police, but lost his job because franchise owners said he violated policy by making night deposits.
When the suspects were fingerprinted in Blacksburg on the attempted robbery charges, no one knew there had been a homicide for which the men eventually would be charged. After fingerprinting, they washed their hands, so Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Keith said no test was done for gunpowder residue after the body was discovered.
Other tests for physical evidence - hair samples or fingerprints - that would put suspects Paul William Morehead or William Ray Smith Jr. inside Crockett's car turned up nothing.
Morehead's former girlfriend, Katina Lynn Zelenak, who gave police several conflicting statements about the robberies and who shot Crockett, gave another statement Tuesday. Her attorneys passed it on to Keith, who then told Morehead's attorney Jeff Rudd about it.
Keith, who told the jurors they would have to decide what parts of Zelenak's testimony to believe, said the additional statement came forth because she "apparently had some sort of memory breakthrough."
One of Zelenak lawyers, Joe Painter of Blacksburg, has maintained that she suffers from multiple personality disorder. But jurors at her trial were not allowed to hear about that.