Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 8, 1993 TAG: 9306080138
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Peggy Jean Bishop, who was driving on U.S. 11 that morning, realized she had hit something, stopped her car but was unable to see anything in the early morning fog, said Max Jenkins, Bishop's lawyer.
Myrna J. Clendenin, 43, of Plum Creek, was found dead alongside U.S. 11 near her home May 30.
Bishop, 29, was charged Thursday after she came to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.
Motorists reported seeing a body on the side of the road about 5:30 a.m. Clendenin was apparently walking east toward Christiansburg when she was struck.
Jenkins said Bishop thought she had hit an animal or something had struck her car at about 5 a.m. as she drove down U.S. 11 between Radford and Christiansburg.
Bishop stopped her car at a church several yards from where Clendenin was found, but didn't see anything, Jenkins said. He described the morning as foggy.
Bishop had spent the night with a friend and was returning home when Clendenin was struck, Jenkins said.
Bishop said she had not been drinking, he said.
When Bishop and her husband later learned that Clendenin was lying dead on the road side, they contacted Jenkins.
Jenkins, in turn, notified authorities that he was representing someone who might have information about the incident.
Bishop was released on bond. A July 12 hearing is set in Montgomery County General District Court.
Lt. O.P. Ramsey of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said a blood test is being done to determine whether there was alcohol in Clendenin's system at the time she was hit.
by CNB