Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 24, 1993 TAG: 9309240154
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FINCASTLE LENGTH: Medium
On Thursday, they charged Layne with capital murder and kidnapping "with intent to defile" in the brutal beating death of Phadra.
Phadra was taken from her home in Johnson's Trailer Park in Arnolds Valley just before 2:30 a.m. Saturday.
A young girl's battered body was found Wednesday in a shallow grave in the Flatwoods section of Botetourt County. On Thursday, dental records established what investigators had believed - it was Phadra's body.
Dr. David Oxley, deputy chief medical examiner for Western Virginia, said she died from repeated blows to the head from a blunt object.
Investigators believe the murder happened in a forest of oaks and maples just off Switzer Mountain Road in Flatwoods, a couple of miles from a house where Layne was staying with a brother.
Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Hagan said Thursday that a charge of abduction filed against Layne on Sunday in Rockbridge County will be dropped. That will allow the entire case to go forward in Botetourt County, Hagan said.
The sheriff's departments and commonwealth's attorneys of both counties will continue to work together on the prosecution.
Virginia law makes it a capital crime to kill a child under the age of 12 during an abduction with intent to defile. The Virginia Supreme Court has defined "defile" as interchangeable with "sexually molest."
Phadra's friends have told authorities and her mother that Phadra confided that Layne had tried to molest her earlier.
The capital murder charge against Layne is the first death penalty case in Botetourt County in a decade, prosecutors say.
Layne, 40, was brought from Rockbridge Regional Jail on Thursday night and taken before a magistrate in Botetourt County. He was served with capital murder and kidnapping warrants and ordered held without bond in the Botetourt County Jail.
by CNB