Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 25, 1994 TAG: 9405250043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
COEBURN - Authorities have suspended the search for a man who has been missing since May 16, when he said he was heading out to look for work.
The search for Thomas Joseph Starnes, 25, has focused on the Bark Camp Lake area along the Wise County-Scott County line. Starnes has not been seen since leaving a note for his mother at their home in Wise, saying he was going to find a job.
The man's father, Tom Starnes of Mineola, Texas, has traveled to Virginia to help look for his son, who came to Virginia from Mineola about two years ago. He said 5,000 fliers have been made up and an information sheet about his son is being distributed by Virginia State Police to regional law enforcement agencies.
The search, which began last Tuesday, was formally suspended Sunday, said Scott County Deputy Bo Taylor. Authorities will continue investigating any possible sightings.
A search of the lake by a dive team Friday turned up nothing, authorities said.
- Associated Press
Man freed from jail charged in attacks
WOODBRIDGE - Less than 24 hours after being released from jail because of court delays in a robbery case, a Prince William County man has been accused of raping an elderly woman and stabbing her grandson.
Dewayne Williams, 28, was being held Tuesday without bond at the Prince William County Adult Detention Center, said Kim Chinn, a county police spokeswoman. A preliminary hearing was set for June 7.
Williams left the jail at 1 p.m. Friday, jail officials said. The rape of the 79-year-old woman occurred early the next morning in a Woodbridge mobile home.
Williams was arrested Saturday night and charged with rape, sodomy, abduction and two counts of malicious wounding.
Williams, who has no fixed address, had been in jail for five months on an unrelated robbery charge after being accused of knocking a man unconscious and taking $4.40 and the man's tennis shoes, Prince William Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert said.
But the charges were dismissed Friday by Circuit Judge LeRoy Millette. The judge agreed with Williams' defense attorney that the prosecution did not try Williams quickly enough under the Constitutional requirement of speedy trials for criminal defendants, Ebert said.
- Associated Press
Care-giver charged in toddler's death
RICHMOND - A Henrico County woman has been charged in the death of a 2-year-old boy who was left in her care.
The boy, Evan Daley Hippeard, was pronounced dead on arrival Sunday at Henrico Doctors' Hospital. The boy's father, Steve Hippeard, had placed an emergency call at 2:59 a.m. Sunday.
Police on Monday charged Hippeard's girlfriend, Lauren T. O'Dell, with first-degree murder.
The cause of death was severe abdominal trauma, said Sgt. W.L. Smith of the Henrico Police Department. He declined to elaborate.
Police said Hippeard discovered his son's condition after returning to his apartment from work. O'Dell was caring for the boy and four other children, police said.
- Associated Press
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB