Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 15, 1993 TAG: 9308150115
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PHOENIX LENGTH: Medium
Detectives from the Glendale Police Department also took fingerprints from Wooten, 25, after they served him with a search warrant last week in Maryland, The Phoenix Gazette reported in its Saturday editions.
Althea Hayes, who was three months pregnant, was found shot to death July 24 in her Glendale apartment.
Hayes' family and friends have told investigators that Mustaf was the father of her unborn child and he allegedly offered her $5,000 to have an abortion.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the accusations, Mustaf told The Sun of Baltimore in an interview at his father's home in Bowie, Md., that he didn't know the woman was pregnant, and he denied offering her money for an abortion.
"My sympathies are with the family, that's first," Mustaf said. "I lost a couple of loved ones this year, my grandmother and grandfather, so I can understand what they're going through."
But Mustaf said he has not contacted the family. He said that after a relative told police he was the father of Hayes' child, "it didn't make sense for me to communicate with them."
"I asked one of my friends back in Phoenix to send my condolences. I didn't know her family," Mustaf said.
Police documents released Aug. 6 said Hayes went to Mustaf's home in suburban Chandler, Ariz., the night before she was slain to refuse his demand to have an abortion and insist he agree to support the child.
Mustaf has denied any involvement in the murder of Hayes, who reportedly dated the player for six to eight months before her death and once worked at his Phoenix bookstore.
by CNB