Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 16, 1993 TAG: 9309160188
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The woman identified Michael Hampton Sonner, 25, as the man who raped her, stole her pickup truck and forced her to withdraw $1,000 from a Blacksburg bank Wednesday morning, said Dan Haga, chief deputy of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.
The woman made the identification from a photograph faxed by North Carolina authorities, Haga said. The man, who had attended Shawsville High School, did not know the woman but was familiar with her house and the general area, Haga said.
Sonner escaped Tuesday morning from the Davie County Landfill Recycling Center, where he was working with 18 other inmates who were being supervised by an unarmed civilian. Davie County is about an hour southwest of Greensboro, N.C.
Sonner was a prisoner at the Davidson County Correctional Center, a minimum security facility. Davidson County is immediately east of Davie County.
He had been incarcerated since July 1991 on two convictions of breaking and entering in Alamance County.
Haga said the woman gave this account:
She returned home about 8 p.m. Tuesday and found a man in her home. He held her overnight, raped her Wednesday morning and forced her to drive to the National Bank of Blacksburg near Montgomery Regional Hospital to withdraw $1,000. The woman wrote a check and used the drive-through teller, with her attacker holding a gun on her, Haga said.
They returned to the woman's home, where the man tied her up and took her pickup truck about 11 a.m.
The man was last seen wearing camouflage pants, a white T-shirt and a camouflage headband. Haga said the man is armed with a shotgun, a revolver and a hunting knife.
The woman was able to free herself and the sheriff's office was called about 11:15 a.m., Haga said. There was no sign of forced entry to the home, he said.
A stolen vehicle from North Carolina was recovered a short distance from the woman's home.
Authorities continued searching for Sonner on Wednesday evening, with assistance from the state police, but Haga said there was no proof that he was still in the county. Authorities said he had a tent and binoculars with him.
The Greensboro News & Record supplied some information for this story.
by CNB