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

DATE: FRIDAY, January 27, 1995                   TAG: 9501270079
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: VIRGINIA   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

11-YEAR-OLD BOY AMONG 4 ACCUSED IN ROBBERY, SHOOTING

The boy, whose name was not released by authorities, is the fourth person to be charged in the Jan. 19 crime.

Two 18-year-olds, Jerard Tyree Banks and Brian Lee Rowe, and 17-year-old Antonio Crews have been charged with capital murder and armed robbery in the shotgun deaths of Heague ``Hun'' Yi, the owner of the Happy Mart Food Store, and Yi's friend, James E. Williams.

Capt. Teresa P. Gooch, head of the Richmond Police Department's violent crime division, said the boy was charged with robbery after being questioned by detectives.

- Associated Press

Girl, 12, died of brain swelling

WOODSTOCK - An autopsy on the body of a 12-year-old Middletown girl shows the child died of brain swelling, likely caused by a blow to the head.

State police spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell said that the mother of Valerie Smelser and several other relatives were questioned Wednesday in the death.

Autopsy results released Wednesday showed the child also suffered from hypothermia. Her unclothed body was found Monday along U.S. 50 in Clarke County. Tests to determine whether the girl had been sexually assaulted were inconclusive, Caldwell said.

Wanda Smelser reported her daughter missing on Sunday. She told authorities the child went to a restroom at a roadside service station and did not return.

- Associated Press

Bus arson could cost $200,000

FAIRFAX - An arson fire that severely damaged three school buses could cost the Fairfax County public schools nearly $200,000, and school and fire officials say they do not know who is blame.

At least one of the 64-seat yellow school buses will have to replaced, at a cost of about $60,000, school officials said. The three buses were found ablaze Jan. 19 in the parking lot of Herndon High School.

The school system has not determined the cost of repairing the other two buses, and could end up replacing all three at a cost of about $180,000, said Kathy Simmons, a spokeswoman for the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department.

- Associated Press

Elderly man dies in fire

CHARLOTTESVILLE - A fire which swept through a two-story home in Albemarle County left an elderly man dead.

Clifford Scott, 76, a retired janitor, died early Wednesday in the bedroom of his home off Virginia 688.

Bruce Crow, an investigator with the Albemarle County Fire and Rescue Administration, said it appeared Scott, who lived alone, had tried to escape.

Crow said the fire started in a wall in Scott's bedroom near a wood-burning stove.

- Associated Press

Keywords:
FATALITY