Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 9, 1994 TAG: 9411090080
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But Caldwell said he had not determined the exact charges and when they would be filed. Virginia is one of several states in which the three are accused of committing crimes.
"As long as they're in custody and they're not going anywhere, then I don't feel any rush to charge them," Caldwell said. "It is going to be a lengthy process."
Roanoke investigators are scheduled to leave for West Virginia today to solidify their case against Paul D. Thompson, 25, and David T. McKeone, 26, both of West Virginia, and Sherry Sprouse, 27, of Pittsburgh.
The three are suspects in the beating death of Virgie Green, who was found Nov.1 stuffed in the trunk of her blue Buick. She had died from a blow to her head.
Thompson, McKeone and Sprouse had stayed with Green just before she was killed. Police had been looking for the three since the day Green's body was found. That afternoon, the victim's two other vehicles, a light-blue Nissan and a gray Dodge Ram pickup, were discovered missing from her home.
Police found the Nissan abandoned on Franklin Road last week. And West Virginia State Police located the pickup, which had been sold to a Grafton resident.
Roanoke investigators want to pinpoint when the victim's pickup was sold and the date the three suspects returned to Roanoke, said a source close to the case.
The three suspects were questioned by a Roanoke detective over the weekend in Amarillo, Texas, where they were arrested on Florida warrants for attempted first-degree murder and carjacking. Roanoke police Maj. J.L. Viar would not comment on the interrogation. He would only characterize it as "beneficial" to the Roanoke case.
Thompson, McKeone and Sprouse met the Green family in early October, when they bought a car from Trish Green, one of Virgie Green's daughters. They later stayed for a short time in her Day Avenue apartment.
"Our heart went out to them," said brother Theodore Green Jr. "But a week later, we caught them in the attic smoking crack, and I kicked them out."
The three then turned to Virgie Green, whose husband had died recently of stomach cancer. She invited the three to live at her Woods Avenue home.
Virgie Green was last seen by her children Oct. 25, one day before her 44th birthday. A week later, LeMay Green found her mother dead, wrapped in a set of blankets; two green trash bags were tied tight around her head.
Green's daughters say their mother's wedding bands were taken from her finger. And about $2,000 worth of tools were taken from their mother's house, along with a television set and vacuum cleaner.
"I can't wait till the day comes when they get these guys here in Roanoke and I can hear their testimony," LeMay Green said.
Thompson and McKeone met at Huttonsville Correctional Center in W.Va., where they were serving time for nonviolent offenses and recently were released. West Virginia authorities have charged both men with parole violations and burglary.
Sprouse became a traveling companion of Thompson and McKeone after the three met in a bar. Florida authorities said the men told them they had planned to kill Sprouse in Texas.
The day after Virgie Green's body was found, police believe the three were in Clearwater, Fla., where they are accused of beating a 67-year-old man with a stick, then stealing his car. The man was found lying unconscious in a pool of blood the afternoon of Nov.2. He awakened Monday from his coma, said Sgt. Greg Tita of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.
That crime initiated a nationwide search for the three, who were distinguished by their many tattoos. Thompson had the "Nightmare on Elm Street" character Freddy Krueger penned on his stomach.
At 10:30 p.m. Friday, Thompson's mother in Amarillo called police and told them her son was back in town, Tita said. Four hours later, the three were arrested. Thompson and McKeone were found at one location. Sprouse was arrested at a nearby motel, with the stolen car parked outside. She also was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle.
In the car, investigators found a map of the rural Clearwater area where the carjacking occurred. The location of Smith's residence was marked with an X, Tita said.
Tuesday, the three remained in a Texas jail, fighting extradition to Florida, said a spokesman for the Potter County Sheriff's Office. Upon hearing that their bond was $1 million each, he said, the three laughed.
Keywords:
ROMUR
by CNB