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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 9, 1994                   TAG: 9411090105
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LEWISBURG, W.VA.                                LENGTH: Short

ATTEMPTED-MURDER TRIAL FOR BEAUTY QUEEN TO BEGIN

Eighteen witnesses have been called to testify against a former beauty queen charged with trying to kill the family of a romantic rival, Greenbrier County Prosecutor Richard Lorensen said Monday. The trial is to begin Nov. 16.

Tracy Lippard, 23, of Charlottesville, Va., is charged with three counts of attempted murder and one count each of malicious wounding, carrying a concealed weapon, brandishing, improper use of registration plates and bringing stolen property into the state.

Lippard's attorney, Lewisburg lawyer Paul Detch, told Circuit Judge Charles M. Lobban that he would have seven or eight defense witnesses.

Lippard, a former Miss Williamsburg and a 1993 candidate for Miss Virginia, remained impassive during the hearing.

She is charged with trying to kill Melissa Weikle, 24, and her parents, Rodney, 50, and Carlynn, 47, all of Lewisburg.

Lippard and Melissa Weikle had both dated the same man, and Lippard apparently was jealous because Weikle was pregnant by him, police said.

Lippard attacked Rodney Weikle with a hammer before he wrestled her to the ground, police said. She also had a 9 mm pistol, a butcher knife, matches and lighter fluid.

They said she planned to kill the family and burn the house.

Lippard remains free on $42,000 bond.

by CNB