ROANOKE TIMES 

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

DATE: TUESDAY, November 22, 1994                   TAG: 9411220134
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MURDER-SUICIDE CASE 'CLOSE TO RESOLVED'

Before Jacob Caldwell took his own life in a Botetourt County home Saturday night, police believe he plunged a kitchen knife at least 20 times into the body of David Vest.

But exactly why Caldwell committed the murder at Vest's Roanoke County home may never be known, police say.

"I don't know if we'll ever get to the motive, because they're both dead," Roanoke County Detective P.J. Patrone said. "And there were no other witnesses to the crime."

An autopsy completed Monday showed between 20 and 40 stab and slice wounds penetrating Vest's body. Caldwell died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

The results support the murder-suicide theory of Roanoke County and Botetourt County investigators.

"At this point, as we look at the case, we consider it close to being resolved," Patrone said.

From the moment Vest's body was discovered in his Flagler Drive home Saturday night, investigators knew who their prime suspect was: Caldwell, a 20-year-old Cloverdale man.

He had stayed with Vest on Friday night, police said. The two had met about a year ago when Caldwell was dating a 22-year-old Botetourt County woman. Vest was seeing her mother. Since that time, Caldwell's relationship with the woman had waned.

Saturday night about 8 p.m., Caldwell took Vest's car and drove to Botetourt County, to his former girlfriend's house on Westridge Drive in Applewood Estates. Caldwell feared that Vest was involved with her, said Botetourt County Sheriff Reed Kelly.

Armed with three guns, Caldwell began shooting at his former girlfriend and her mother, police said. Neither woman was seriously injured.

During the struggle with the two women, Caldwell admitted killing Vest, Kelly said. He then went into the kitchen and shot himself. By the time deputies arrived, Caldwell was dead.

But his statement to the women led deputies to alert Roanoke County police to check on Vest. About 9 p.m., investigators found the 53-year-old General Electric production employee dead in his bedroom.

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