Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 4, 1993 TAG: 9306040079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LEWISBURG, W.VA. LENGTH: Short
Jacob Beard, 47, of Crescent City, Fla., is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Nancy Santomero, 19, of Huntington, N.Y., and Vickie Durian, 26, of Wellman, Iowa. Four other men, including a Virginian, also have been charged in the deaths.
The women were shot June 25, 1980, near Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park in Pocahontas County as they traveled to a gathering of the Rainbow Family in the Monongahela National Forest.
The jury was dismissed for the day after deliberating nearly three hours. Deliberations were scheduled to resume this morning.
Beard on Wednesday denied killing the women and said he did not know who shot them. Witnesses have put Beard and his red pickup truck at the scene of the killings.
"If the state is right, Jacob Beard would have had to kill two girls in front of a group of people he mostly did not know," defense attorney Stephen Farmer said in closing arguments.
In his closing argument, special prosecutor Walt Weiford tried to pick apart the defense's case, including Beard's alibi that he was at several places the day of the shooting.
A judge earlier dropped one count of conspiracy to abduct with intent to defile, a sex-related crime.
Four other men were indicted on the same charges as Beard in January: Gerald L. Brown, 51, of Droop; William McCoy, 37, of Hillsboro; Richard Fowler, 41, of Gordonsville, Va.; and Arnold Cutlip, 55, of Lobelia. Brown died in February when he choked on food.
by CNB