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

DATE: SUNDAY, January 15, 1995                   TAG: 9501170068
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BROTHER ARRESTED IN SLAYING

Police said Kenneth Allen Basham, 34, was killed around 2:30 a.m. in the 700 block of 30th Street Northwest. His 25-year-old brother, Victor Robert Basham, was charged with first-degree murder.

After receiving a 911 call, police arrived at the scene and found Kenneth Basham on the ground - conscious but unable to speak. Standing above him was Victor Basham, who kept repeating that he had stabbed his brother repeatedly, police said.

Police said Kenneth Basham had been stabbed seven times. A butcher knife was found about 10 feet away, and police said Victor Basham told them it was his weapon.

Police said Victor Basham then became distraught; he jumped up and down and began beating on the hood of his car.

Kenneth Basham was taken to Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he died of the stab wounds.

The argument between the brothers started hours earlier at a restaurant on the City Market, police said. The two then went to Victor Basham's house in the 2400 block of Maryland Avenue Northwest, where the argument escalated.

The two began throwing punches, police said, but the altercation was broken up by a third person. Kenneth Basham then apparently began walking to his house in the 3700 block of Salem Turnpike.

Police think Victor Basham drove to his brother's home, where the confrontation continued.

Maj. Jake Viar of the Roanoke Police Department said the argument was about nothing out of the ordinary, "just brother stuff."

The stabbing death was Roanoke's sixth homicide this year. The five previous deaths all were part of a multiple slaying early New Year's Day.

Keywords:
ROMUR