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

DATE: SATURDAY, August 20, 1994                   TAG: 9408220078
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: MELISSA DEVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                 LENGTH: Medium

BREAK-IN ADDS INSULT TO INJURY FOR ACCIDENT VICTIM'S FAMILY

Police say someone broke into Kathy Williams' East Side Chevron Station on Norwood Street between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. Thursday. Although the thieves took only some change from the cash register and caused $300 in property damage, the incident left many people sickened.

"It was pretty bold of someone to do this, but I tell you, it was pretty ghoulish, too," said Williams' brother, Levi Jones. "The people that did this - they better hope the police find them before I do."

Friday, Radford police had no suspects, but the investigation continued.

Deputy Chief Jonny Butler said often people read obituaries and prey on those who have lost a loved one, but it never has happened in Radford.

"We live in genteel Southwest Virginia," Butler said. "People usually would have better sense than to do something like that here."

Jones said he is offering a $1,000 reward for any information leading to the names of the people involved in the break-in. He has hired security people to guard the Chevron station and Williams' home.

Williams, 36, the mother of two - Trey, 5, and Candace, 8 - had operated the station for about three years.

She was responding to an American Automobile Association call Tuesday night at the Ironto rest area off Interstate 81 in Montgomery County when the crash occurred.

Truck driver Jose Estrella, 32, of Brooklyn, N.Y., had started to enter the lane for passenger cars when he realized his mistake and stopped. Williams stopped her tow truck behind Estrella. Moments later she was rear-ended by truck driver Melvin E. Vargas, 22, of Hialeah, Fla. The tow truck was crushed between the two tractor-trailers and burst into flames.

The two truck drivers escaped injury.

Vargas was charged with involuntary manslaughter. The speed limit at the entrance is 25 mph, and Vargas was traveling about 40 mph, state police said. Estrella has been charged with reckless driving. Both men are free on bond.

Although Williams ran a business in a field dominated by men, she had a reputation as a shrewd businesswoman who knew how to balance her family and work. She was a member of the Main Street Baptist Church in Christiansburg. The funeral will be held there today at 2 p.m.

"As far as this [break-in] goes, they only got money," Jones said. "But this place is an institution, and we've got to keep it going. I can't believe someone would do something so low."

Anyone with information on the break-in should call the Radford Police Department at 731-3627.