Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 12, 1995 TAG: 9507120063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Michael James Houser, 24, of Tayloe Avenue Southeast, was charged with the June 30 homicide and robbery of Randall Carter.
Carter's wife, Betty Hood Carter, said she heard her husband arguing with a man on the first floor of their Memorial Avenue Southwest home about 2:20 a.m. Soon afterward, she said, she heard gunshots and fled her home. Police later found her husband shot in the head just outside the couple's kitchen.
About the same time Carter was shot, Houser arrived at Community Hospital of Roanoke Valley with a gunshot wound to his stomach. He was driven to the hospital in a private vehicle.
Carter died the day after he was shot.
Police made their first arrest in the case Thursday, charging Thomas Arthur Burton, 28, with Carter's robbery and killing. They also charged Burton with shooting Houser. With that charge, investigators for the first time publicly placed Houser at the scene of the shooting.
Tuesday, Roanoke police referred all questions about the case to Roanoke Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell.
Caldwell said as many as three people could have been involved in Carter's killing, that at least two of them had met earlier the night of the shooting, and that a drug purchase may have been involved.
Burton and Houser each are charged with capital murder, which is punishable by a life sentence or the death penalty. But Caldwell said that "a lot more evidence" will surface between now and the trial that will determine the number of people charged and the exact charges.
Tuesday night, Houser and Burton remained in the Roanoke City Jail without bond.
Keywords:
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by CNB