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

DATE: TUESDAY, December 6, 1994                   TAG: 9412060070
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WOMAN ACCUSED OF MURDER

Simone Ann Ayton, 22, was charged with the murder of Darius Akeem Ayton in an indictment brought Monday by a grand jury in Roanoke Circuit Court.

Authorities allege that on the night of Nov. 1, Ayton held her son underwater in a bathtub at her Ferncliff Avenue Northwest apartment until he stopped struggling, then called 911 and said it was an accident.

According to earlier police reports, Ayton told authorities at the time that she was bathing her child when he slipped out of her hands and into the water, and that she was unable to get him out immediately.

Those reports also said Ayton told police that, after finally getting the infant out of the tub, she carried him to a bedroom and tried to revive him for about 15 minutes before calling 911.

No charges were brought immediately - in part because Ayton has a physical handicap that limits the use of one of her hands.

But under questioning by a detective from the Roanoke Police Department's Youth Bureau, Ayton later made a statement that led to the charge against her.

According to sources close to the investigation, Ayton told police that she believed her child did not like her, and that she was frustrated because he had been crying for much of the day.

Sources said she then confessed to holding her son under the water until he stopped struggling. Pressed for details on how long that took, Ayton reportedly said, "Longer than a commercial."

No one else was in the apartment at the time of the incident, and authorities said they have not heard from the child's father or other immediate relatives.

If Ayton is convicted of first-degree murder, she could face up to life in prison, said Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Alice Ekirch, who declined to elaborate on the case.

The indictment was worded to allow a conviction of second-degree murder. A decision on which degree of murder, if any, would be made later by a judge or jury. First-degree murder includes premeditation, while second-degree murder, punishable by up to 40 years in prison, does not.

A judge on Monday set a $10,000 bond for Ayton, and she was given until Friday to turn herself in on the charge. A message left on Ayton's answering machine Monday afternoon was not returned.

The charge against Ayton - along with another murder indictment against a Roanoke man returned by the grand jury - bring the number of slayings in Roanoke this year to four, still well below the city's annual average of 14.

Three of those killings happened in the first week of November. A Roanoke man was charged Monday with shooting and killing a man on Hanover Avenue Northwest the night of Nov. 3, and three people face charges of killing an Old Southwest woman who was found stuffed in a car trunk Nov. 1.

Keywords:
ROMUR