Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 28, 1995 TAG: 9510300086
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Authorities in South Carolina and Virginia on Friday gave the following account:
Police had been searching for the husband and wife since Sunday night, when a 67-year-old man was robbed at gunpoint in his Oconee County, S.C., mobile home and left tied to his bed.
By Monday night, the couple had made it as far as the first overlook on the Roanoke Mountain loop of the parkway, where Ranger John Boone spotted them as he was closing the road for the night.
Boone, who was unaware of the South Carolina charges, began to question the couple as they sat in their pickup truck. As Boone went to call for backup, the driver of the truck sped off - forcing the ranger to jump onto the hood of his car to keep from being struck.
After heading the wrong way down the one-way road, the pickup struck a gate that had been drawn shut across the road. From there, the couple fled on foot. The next day, a car was stolen from the parking lot of the Food Lion on U.S. 220, several miles away.
Late Thursday afternoon, a police officer in Virginia Beach attempted to stop the car for a traffic violation. After a brief chase, the couple was arrested.
Christopher William Herron, 28, and his wife, Connie Sue Eller, 26, have been charged with robbery, kidnapping and auto theft in connection with the South Carolina offenses, according to Sgt. Stanley Sheriff of the Oconee County Sheriff's Office.
Eller, who also uses the last name Herron, was hospitalized in Virginia Beach for injuries she apparently received when the truck crashed into the gate on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
U.S. Park Service District Ranger Richard Morefield said additional charges are pending in connection with the incident involving Boone, the car stolen from Food Lion and guns that were found in the pickup.
by CNB