Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 16, 1995 TAG: 9505160074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Arthur Jermaine Manns, 18, was in Roanoke General District Court for arraignment on charges that he fatally shot a woman early Sunday at Lincoln Terrace public housing development.
After gunshots were reported in the area about 4:30 a.m., police found Vickie Michelle Nichols, 31, face up on a sidewalk behind an apartment in the 1700 block of Dunbar Street Northwest.
Nichols had been shot twice in the back - once in the spine and once in the shoulder blade. She died several hours later at Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
After setting Manns' bond, General District Judge Vincent Lilley appointed the public defender's office to represent him and scheduled a preliminary hearing June 1.
Manns, who remained in the city jail late Monday afternoon, did not speak during the hearing except to answer routine questions from the judge.
Police said earlier that a crack cocaine transaction had taken place in the immediate vicinity of the slaying shortly before shots were fired, and that drug involvement was being considered in the investigation.
On Monday, police said they were investigating several other people who were in the immediate area. ``The investigation will not be completed until any possible participation by these [people] is determined,'' Maj. J.L. Viar said.
Nichols' killing was the 11th death ruled a homicide in Roanoke this year, and the third in two weeks. Police are investigating a suspicious house fire that killed a woman early Saturday in Old Southwest and the May 4 killing of a 68-year-old man found dead of a puncture wound to his neck in his Northwest Roanoke home.
Keywords:
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