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

DATE: FRIDAY, May 6, 1994                   TAG: 9405060118
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

N.C. GETS 1ST CRACK AT SUSPECT

Billy Joe Hampton won't return to Virginia to stand trial on malicious wounding and carjacking charges until North Carolina disposes of charges against him there.

Hampton, the paroled murderer charged with a series of assaults and carjackings in Virginia and West Virginia, was caught in Greensboro on March 7. Police said he forced a woman into her car, struck her several times, then dropped her off. A police pursuit ended when Hampton ran the woman's car into four cars and surrendered.

Hampton, 35, was indicted Monday in Greensboro on charges of second-degree kidnapping, common-law robbery and traffic charges, said Richard Panosh, assistant district attorney for the 18th Judicial District.

His trial is set for June 13.

Panosh said Pulaski County has filed a request to have Hampton extradited after the Greensboro charges are resolved.

When Hampton was caught in Greensboro, he had been the object of a manhunt since Feb. 22, when a Pulaski County grand jury indicted him on a charge of maliciously wounding a Hazel Hollow man in November.

Authorities believe Hampton found out about the indictment and fled to West Virginia, where he is charged with raping a Beckley woman Feb. 23 and stealing her car. Authorities say Hampton then came back to Montgomery County, 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.

Hampton is being held in the Guilford County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bond.

In April, Gary O'Neal Shanks, another paroled murderer, was charged with being the person who actually struck the Pulaski County man with a claw hammer in the same November incident for which Hampton was indicted.

Shanks, 30, who is being held in the Montgomery County Jail, also has been indicted on a charge of robbing a Blacksburg convenience store last June.

Shanks and Hampton, both from Montgomery County, served time for murders they committed as teen-agers. They met in prison in 1980.

by CNB