Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 12, 1995 TAG: 9502130052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Hairston had walked across her yard to the apartment at 2335 Centre Ave. N.W., as she did so many other days, to check on the 70-year-old widow. And, like many other days, Weatherford's grandson, Kenny Morris, 32, was in the house.
"He told me to come on in, that Geneva was just chillin','' Hairston said. "Then I look down and see her lying on her stomach with a bunch of trash lying around her. I said, `Look, you need a drink. I'll go get you one.' I had to get out of there, you know, and call 911."
When Roanoke police arrived just before 5:30 p.m., they found Morris sitting near the body of his grandmother.
A news release issued by police said Weatherford ``appeared to have suffered a beating with noticeable trauma to her head.''
The release said Morris was taken to the police station for questioning, then arrested in the slaying.
Hairston said she became worried about her neighbor when she hadn't seen Weatherford at her usual routine for a few days.
"It was like clockwork. She would get up in the morning, put some bread and water out for the birds, open her kitchen curtains and drink coffee," Hairston said.
The curtains had been closed, Hairston said, for at least two days.
Normally, neighbor Ramona Workman said, Weatherford would walk through the brick duplexes to the bus stop, using her cane. Often, she would visit the Good Samaritan Hospice or go grocery shopping.
Workman hadn't seen Weatherford outside for several days.
Morris was seen Saturday morning.
Jacqueline L. Boyd, who lives with her mother two apartments from Weatherford's, said she watched Morris walk to his grandmother's apartment with a bag full of beer, "cussing to himself the whole way."
Neighbors said since Weatherford moved into the Lansdowne housing development more than a year ago, they had grown accustomed to frequent, often violent visits.
"First of the month, [Morris] would come around for money, take her jewelry, break up her furniture," Workman said.
Workman said she and Weatherford developed a system for such times: Weatherford would flash her porch light on and off; Workman would call the police.
Tuesday night was the last time Workman called the police for her neighbor, but she said she wasn't sure what happened after police arrived.
About a week and a half ago, Weatherford had tried to give Workman the name of one of her three granddaughters but was unable to remember her married name.
"She was real nervous, and she wanted to give me a name just in case something happened to her," Workman said.
Hairston said Weatherford, who recently suffered a heart attack, was a lonely woman who loved to chat with neighbors.
"One time, she had me come over to replace a light bulb," she said. "All I had to do was tighten it half a turn, but she just wanted to talk."
Weatherford's daughter, Morris' mother, died years ago. Neighbors said that was why Weatherford defended her grandson so fiercely.
"You couldn't say nothing bad about [Morris] around her," Hairston said. "She would have given her last for him - and he knew it."
Morris, who police said had no known address, is separated from his wife of nine years.
Morris was being held Saturday night in the Roanoke City Jail.
Keywords:
ROMUR
by CNB