Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 6, 1994                   TAG: 9404060062
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

MALICIOUS-WOUNDING CHARGE BECOMES MURDER

Elswick and McIver, who was Elswick's mother's boyfriend, began fighting. When it was over, Elswick lay bleeding on the floor and later died at a hospital.

That's what two friends who witnessed the fight said during a preliminary hearing Tuesday in Montgomery County General District Court.

Elswick, 31, died of a blunt-force injury to the back of his head, but authorities have not determined what the object was that struck him.

McIver originally was charged with malicious wounding. Tuesday, the charge was upgraded to second-degree murder and was sent on to a grand jury to consider for indictment.

The fight happened Jan. 13 at the home of Elswick, his mother and McIver, just off Roanoke Street in Christiansburg.

Timothy D. Martin, 24, testified that he had split a fifth of liquor with McIver and Elswick the evening of the fight.

Elswick wasn't in the kitchen when Martin and McIver were admiring a knife McIver recently had received as a gift, Martin testified. McIver playfully held the knife to Martin's throat. But when Elswick returned to the room, he evidently interpreted the scene as a threatening situation, Martin testified.

Darrell D. Duncan, 35, testified he saw Elswick shove McIver first.

The lights went off during the struggle, and when they came back on, Elswick lay on the floor. There was blood on a table and throughout the kitchen. McIver left the home, saying something about the men being crazy, Duncan testified.