Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 19, 1995 TAG: 9505190086
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI AND LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Police said Larry Dean Neighbors II, 25, of Southwest Roanoke was charged with rape and forcible sodomy and David Keith Bell, 24, of Northeast Roanoke, was charged with forcible sodomy.
Police did not provide the suspects' exact addresses, and arrest warrants were not available Thursday night. Both have been suspended without pay until the case is resolved.
The woman, Ronlyn Eaton, told police the repeated assaults took place as two men drove her from a bar on Williamson Road early Monday. She swore out warrants against the two men Thursday.
Eaton requested that her name be reported.
"I wanted to take control back of my life," she said. "Whatever needed to be done for my sanity and anybody else who has been sexually assaulted, molested, intimidated or harassed. I'm pressing it to the fullest extent."
Eaton said she had been raped before, in 1987, and knew she needed evidence to support her claims. So throughout Monday's attack, she said she paid attention to details - clothing, locations and vehicle mileage - and scratched one man on the left side of his face, because she wanted to mark her attacker.
Police said Eaton told them that a friend was unable to take her home from the bar about 2 a.m. and two men offered to give her a ride. She got into the back seat of their four-wheel-drive vehicle. One man drove, and the other man sat next to Eaton.
Eaton said in an interview that she felt safe accepting the ride home from the two men. She recognized them as deputies from the time she spent in jail several months ago. She and police would not say why she was jailed.
As they drove away from the bar, one of the men asked if she was ready to party, according to a police news release. Eaton told police that the man seated next to her tried to remove her clothing. Eaton said the men held her inside the vehicle, repeatedly assaulting her as they drove around for 90 minutes.
At one point, the men stopped the vehicle at a convenience store, where one of them purchased condoms. After the assault, she was driven back to the bar's parking lot, forced into the other man's car and driven home.
She called 911. Police and rescue workers took her to Community Hospital of Roanoke Valley for treatment.
The city sheriff's office is working with Roanoke police on the investigation.
Neighbors and Bell are free on bond and are scheduled to be arraigned today.
by CNB