Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 13, 1995 TAG: 9510130067
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
It showed what investigators found when they came upon one of the most gruesome slayings in Montgomery County history.
The partially clad body of Overby's estranged wife, 27-year-old Sheila A. Stafford, was lying on the bedroom floor of a Shawsville trailer.
The subsequent investigation revealed that:
The night before, on Aug. 12, she had been stabbed in the neck and then choked with a board, some belts and an alarm clock cord, and her breasts were mutilated. She was raped before she was strangled, then again hours after she was killed. Her body was urinated on, and obscenities were scribbled all over her with a black marking pen.
Overby, 27, is charged with Stafford's killing.
Three charges against him - capital murder, rape and defilement of his wife's body - were sent to the next meeting of the Montgomery County grand jury after Thursday's preliminary hearing. If the grand jury indicts Overby on one or more charges, a trial date will be scheduled.
Investigators, who met three times with Overby on Aug. 13, recounted Thursday how he first confessed to the murder, then changed his story during the second and third interviews.
Montgomery County Sheriff's Deputy Anthony Price said he arrived at the Alleghany Trailer Park shortly after 5 a.m. on Aug. 13, after being called by a neighbor of Overby's. He found Overby sitting on a couch inside the neighbor's trailer, smoking a cigarette. He had a 12-pack of beer in front of him on a table.
The two walked outside, where Price said Overby turned and told him: "I killed my wife and I'm glad."
He then took investigators to the trailer where he was staying and told them where they could find Stafford's body and the knife he used to stab her, Price said.
Overby said Stafford told him she was seeing another man and might be pregnant - two sparks that set him off, Price said.
Before leaving Overby in May, she discussed with him the possibility of having a $1,600 operation that would enable her to have children.
Members of Stafford's family said Overby went out and bought a motorcycle instead.
After leaving her husband, Sheila Stafford was making ends meet on her own and living with her sister, Tammy, in Salem.
Her 10-year high school class reunion in West Virginia was a week after she was killed. She weighed 140 pounds - down from 300 - in anticipation of the reunion.
"She was so excited about that reunion," Tammy Stafford said before Thursday's hearing. "She was made fun of when she was growing up because she was big. But she wanted to show everybody that she turned out perfect."
Tammy Stafford said she never liked Overby - "You know how some people are nice on the outside, but you can just tell that they're not good people on the inside. Well, that's how I felt about him.
"Sheila was doing well on her own, and he couldn't accept that."
Tammy Stafford said her sister went to see Overby on Aug. 12 because he had told her he had quit drinking and started going to church, and he wanted to talk about reconciling.
Initially, Overby told investigators that he lured his wife to the trailer, that the couple had consensual sex and that he had killed Sheila Stafford in the middle of an argument.
But later, he said he forced her to have sex and flew into a fit of rage when she cursed him afterward, Price said.
Overby's attorney, Jimmy Turk, said it's possible Overby changed his story so he could face a capital murder charge punishable by death.
Overby told investigators several times Aug. 13 that he wanted to die for killing Stafford, Price testified.
"This is a sad case," Turk said following the hearing. "It just doesn't make sense. Here's a guy with no history of violence whatsoever - I mean, we've checked his record, and it's clean. He just snapped."
Turk, who presented no evidence Thursday, said Overby has not decided how he will plead if he's indicted.
Asked what will happen if Overby decides he wants to be executed, Turk said, "It's my obligation under the law to try and save the life of my client, even if he wants to die."
Tammy Stafford, her father and two of her uncles sat in the second row of the courtroom Thursday and looked Overby in the face.
Overby, handcuffed and wearing orange jail fatigues, kept his head down and cried for most of the hearing.
None of his family attended the hearing.
by CNB