Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 24, 1994 TAG: 9408240054
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Frank E. Pennington Jr. was charged with murdering Bonnie Sue Mullins on April 14, 1991, shooting her in the face, apparently as she answered her front door.
Mullins' teen-age daughter was asleep in the house at the time. The victim's husband, Jack Mullins, had been out with friends but arrived home soon after the shooting and discovered his wife's body.
Capt. Ray Lavinder said detectives have been working the case nonstop for three years. Pennington had been a suspect originally, but there was not enough evidence to link him to the crime. Since then, police have interviewed numerous witnesses and through their statements connected Pennington to the slaying, Lavinder said.
Tuesday afternoon, Pennington was transferred from a federal prison in Lewisburg, Pa., to the Roanoke County Jail. He was being held without bond.
Lavinder said both the suspect and the victim were associates in the local drug trade.
Mullins, 35, reportedly was a marijuana dealer who was working as a drug informant for Vinton police.
She had been indicted on drug and gun charges in New Jersey.
Pennington, 55, a former Vinton resident, is serving a 90-month federal drug sentence. He was convicted in Roanoke federal court of conspiracy to possess marijuana and cocaine with the intent to distribute it. He was scheduled to be released Feb. 1, 1998.
In May, Pennington walked away from a minimum security federal prison camp in Kentucky with another inmate. Six days later, both men were recaptured by authorities in a Tennessee park. He later was transferred to the federal prison in Pennsylvania.
He is scheduled to be arraigned in Roanoke County Circuit Court on Monday.
Keywords:
ROMUR
Memo: ***CORRECTION***