Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 8, 1994 TAG: 9403080203
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER NOTE: Strip
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Billy Joe Hampton, the paroled murderer wanted in connection with a series of assaults and carjackings in Virginia and West Virginia, was captured Monday afternoon in Greensboro, N.C.
Police said Hampton was caught after he stole another car. He has been charged in North Carolina with robbery, kidnapping and several traffic charges.
Greensboro Police Sgt. T. L. Gregory said Hampton approached a woman getting out of her car in a Wal-Mart parking lot on Battleground Avenue about noon, forced her back into her car and struck her several times in the face. Gregory said he drove her to a nearby Pizza Hut and dropped her off.
"Someone came and knocked me down in the seat and told me to move over," the woman, Helen Wray, 62, told the News & Record in Greensboro. "I started screaming, I really wasn't sure if he was going to kill me. The guy looked so wild. I didn't know what he was thinking or what he was up to. All he wanted was my car; he didn't ask for money," she said.
A Greensboro man who saw the carjacking called police on a cellular phone and followed the fleeing car. When an officer began pursuing him, Hampton ran into a car that was stopped at a stoplight, then jumped a median and drove in the opposite direction, Gregory said.
Hampton crashed into three more cars before police were able to apprehend him. Officers drew their weapons, but Hampton peacefully surrendered, Gregory said.
Investigators from the Montgomery and Pulaski county sheriff's offices were en route to Greensboro on Monday evening.
James Hampton, the suspect's older brother, told the News & Record that he wasn't surprised at the latest charges. "At this point, nothing surprises me," he said. "Evidently, that's been sort of his pattern around here . . . I'm just glad they picked him up before he could do something to somebody else. It's a big relief."
Billy Joe Hampton, 35, of Christiansburg, had been sought since Feb. 22, when a Pulaski County grand jury indicted him for malicious wounding in connection with the November beating of a 43-year-old Hazel Hollow Road man. The man remains hospitalized with a severe head injury.
Authorities say Hampton apparently found out about the indictment and fled to West Virginia, where he is suspected of raping a Beckley woman on Feb. 23 and stealing her car.
Authorities charge that he came back to Montgomery County the next day, hit an 81-year-old McCoy garage owner over the head and took about $500 from him, then hijacked a 77-year-old Maryland woman's car at the Ironto rest area off Interstate 81.
Dan Haga, chief deputy of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, said the Maryland woman's car was recovered in Rockingham County, N.C., on Sunday.
Haga said he was notified of Hampton's capture shortly before 3 p.m. Monday.
Hampton was convicted in 1976 of beating to death Della Clark Britt, 95, of Montgomery County.
Hampton, who was 16 at the time of her murder, was sentenced to 45 years in prison, but 15 years were suspended. He was paroled in May 1983.
Two years later, Hampton was back in prison after pleading guilty to 22 counts of forgery. A Montgomery County judge sentenced him to 10 years on those charges, and reimposed the 15 years that had been suspended. Hampton was released on discretionary parole in April 1992.
Hampton's capture Monday puts an end to a deluge of reported sightings of the man during the almost two weeks he was being sought. People called police to say they'd spotted Hampton at a Radford truck stop, a Christiansburg Wal-Mart and a host of other places. Even Monday morning, someone called to say they were sure they'd seen him at the New River Valley Mall.
Landmark News Service and staff writer Lisa Applegate contributed information to this story.
by CNB