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

DATE: TUESDAY, June 27, 1995                   TAG: 9506270061
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

2 ACCUSED IN SECOND SLAYING

Two drifters have been accused of killing a West Virginia man several months before they wound up in Roanoke, where they face charges of fatally beating and robbing an Old Southwest woman in October.

Paul D. Thompson, 25, and David T. McKeone, 27, were indicted this month on charges of robbery and murder in connection with the beating death of a man at his Marion County, W.Va., farm, prosecuting attorney Richard Bunner said Monday.

The two men, who met while serving time in a West Virginia prison, have been convicted of the attempted murder of a Florida man.

At a hearing Monday in Roanoke Circuit Court, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Greg Phillips said prosecutors plan to introduce evidence of the other convictions and charges when McKeone's bench trial begins Wednesday.

McKeone and Thompson are accused of killing Virgie Green, dumping her body in a car trunk behind her Woods Avenue home, and then fleeing with two of her cars and other property. She was found Nov. 1, five days after she was reported missing.

Prosecutors hope to show similarities in Green's death and the beatings and robberies in West Virginia and Florida. Mary Harkins, a Rocky Mount attorney who represents McKeone, indicated she may object to the testimony.

McKeone is charged with first-degree murder, while Thompson is accused of capital murder. Prosecutors believe Thompson struck the fatal blow to her head..

Bunner said that he will wait until the men are tried in Roanoke before taking action on the West Virginia charges, which include murder, robbery and conspiracy in connection with the Aug. 23, 1994, death of Harold Jones.

Authorities have said that after Jones was killed, Thompson and McKeone traveled to Roanoke and met Green, who let them live in her home in the weeks before her death. After Green, 44, was killed, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom said, the two men took a bus to Florida. There, they beat and robbed a man near Tampa before fleeing to Texas, where they were arrested, Branscom said.

Keywords:
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by CNB