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

DATE: MONDAY, October 9, 1995                   TAG: 9510090102
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: PALMYRA                                 LENGTH: Short

HUSBAND KILLED WIFE ON BIRTHDAY

Circuit Judge John R. Cullen on Saturday convicted Benfer, 45, of first-degree murder and breaking and entering with the intent to commit murder.

Benfer had waived his right to a jury trial.

Cullen said the evidence pointed to hatred and greed as the motives for Benfer's murder of Faith T. Benfer in her Lake Monticello home just days before the couple's acrimonious divorce was to become final.

Faith Benfer was found dead in a bathtub of water. An autopsy determined she died of asphyxiation and blunt trauma wounds.

Benfer will be held without bond at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Joint Security Complex until his sentencing, scheduled for Dec. 14.

- Associated Press

Keywords:
FATALITY