Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 9, 1994 TAG: 9401090012
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Almost daily, they get frustrated with their jobs.
The two women died last year in separate slayings, the only unsolved homicides of 1993 in the city.
"There has not been anything found that could lead to an arrest," Major J.L. Viar said.
Police have prodded potential witnesses to come forward if they know what happened to either of the women.
Some have said thanks, but no thanks, when asked to answer questions about how Gallagher, 38, and Keeling, 18, died.
In the Gallagher case, one potential suspect declined a police interview after consulting an attorney.
A man questioned in the Keeling case refused to answer questions after learning the results of a lie-detector test.
"We have a lead in one of the cases," Viar said. "I don't want to elaborate on that."
Leads don't come easy when few people are around. Gallagher died alone in her home on Laburnum Avenue Southwest in June. Keeling died in a nighttime barrage of gunfire in September along a darkened curbside near the intersection of Lafayette Boulevard and Massachusetts Avenue Northwest.
The murders follow the disturbing pattern of the other 11 homicides in the city last year. About half were drug- or alcohol-related, half were the result of disputes with spouses or acquaintances.
Police believe Gallagher died at the hands of someone she knew.
There were no signs of forced entry into her apartment. Her purse was found intact, and her apartment was well-kept - except for her bedroom, which was in disarray with an iron on the floor and a lamp overturned.
Neighbors told police they had seen Gallagher arguing with a man on the afternoon of June 23, just hours before she is believed to have been killed.
The medical examiner said she had a deep injury to her neck, which was inconsistent with an accident.
While she was a deeply religious woman, she was prone to confrontational outbursts spurred on by emotional problems.
"She wasn't happy with herself or her jobs," her mother, Geraldine Gallagher, said after her death. Geraldine Gallagher said she attended mental health meetings in hopes of finding ways to help her daughter.
Keeling's confrontation with death took another route.
While police say drugs played no part in Gallagher's death, they are not so sure in the Keeling slaying.
In November 1992, she was arrested after city vice officers watched her and another teen-ager sell crack cocaine on Centre Avenue Northwest.
She died near an intersection where some street-level drug dealing occurs.
But at the time of her death, an autopsy showed no cocaine in her body.
Keywords:
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by CNB