Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 25, 1995 TAG: 9511260015
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
There were four of them - Carrie and Catherine and Kim and Anne.
They graduated from Robinson High School in Fairfax two years ago. Then they headed south - Carrie vanEsselstyn to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg; Catherine Bassett to Washington and Lee University in Lexington; Kim Gaidsick and Anne Harper to Hollins College in Roanoke County.
On holiday breaks, the scattered friends would become "our little group" again, said Gaidsick, of Burke. They would return home to their middle- and upper-middle class suburban neighborhoods near the nation's capital and pick up where their last visit had left off.
This Thanksgiving, they had planned to do the same.
Instead, three of them spent the holiday grieving over the death of the fourth.
The body of a young woman believed to be Anne Harper was found after a Thanksgiving Day fire in her family's Fairfax County home. Police have declined to identify the victim until an autopsy is performed.
But a family friend said Friday that Harper's mother, Elizabeth, was certain the victim was her 20-year-old daughter. Anne was visiting her family for Thanksgiving, Jennifer Lewis said.
Police are calling the fire and death suspicious. According to Friday's edition of The Washington Post, a friend said Elizabeth Harper told her that police suspect her daughter was assaulted and that the house was then set on fire. Fairfax County police would not confirm that information.
A Washington television station reported Friday that Harper may have startled an intruder who assaulted her before the blaze began. WRC cited police sources for the report.
"Everybody is just trying to believe it," Gaidsick said. "In this area, nothing like this happens. Our areas are safe to live in. It's something you'd expect to happen maybe in downtown D.C. But not here."
According to The Washington Post, Harper had gone to a late movie with her brother and two friends after dinner Wednesday.
The fire in the Harpers' two-story home in the Middleridge subdivision, south of the city of Fairfax, broke out about 2:15 a.m.
Elizabeth Harper jumped to safety from a second-story window. Anne's grandmother, Delphine Parsons, was helped from her basement apartment by a next-door neighbor. The body believed to be Anne's was found inside, on the first floor.
Elizabeth Harper, 46, was in stable condition Friday at Fairfax Hospital. She suffered first- and second-degree burns. Parsons, 85, did not require medical treatment.
"We don't know if we have a homicide, suicide or accidental death," said Officer Onzy Elam, a police spokesman. "The circumstances surrounding it are suspicious. We do believe we have a perpetrator involved in the fire and the death of the unidentified woman."
Dr. James Beyer, deputy chief medical examiner for the Northern Virginia medical examiner's office, said his office was waiting for identifying instruments, such as dental records, before performing an autopsy.
Anne Harper, a junior, was a medieval studies major and honor student at Hollins, said Linda Steele, director of college relations. She was a member of the Chapel Choir and Religious Life Association and was active in the music and creative writing programs.
"She was involved in so many different activities," Steele said. "Many people knew her and loved her so much. Until police reports come through with confirmation, we will just sit tight."
Anne Harper had headed home earlier this week for the Thanksgiving holiday, Gaidsick said. She had stopped to have lunch with a former boyfriend who attends Washington and Lee, then continued on to Fairfax by herself.
Gaidsick said she knew of no trouble in Anne Harper's life. The only recent upset she could recall was Harper's breakup in September with the boyfriend. But the two were getting along and had no major conflicts, Gaidsick said.
"We are all completely shocked," she said. "Police aren't really going into details. But a 20-year-old can't get out of a house? She was on the first floor and she couldn't get out?''
The Associated Press contributed information to this story.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB