ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 13, 1996 TAG: 9602130096
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NORFOLK
SOURCE: Associated Press
An 8-year-old pledge to continue to investigate the brutal rape and murder of a graduate student has landed the man who was first charged back behind bars.
With his arrest, Ricky D. Rogers, 40, of Chesapeake is facing, for the third time, the prospect of life in prison.
He is again charged with the death of Grace E. Payne, an Old Dominion University graduate student who was found slain Oct. 20, 1987. Payne, then 28, was found dead on a bed in her apartment after her sister and co-workers became concerned because she had not shown up for work.
She had been raped, bound, and strangled with electrical cord.
Earlier in the murder case, charges against Rogers were dropped after one witness died, another recanted, and DNA evidence proved inconclusive. In 1991, he was charged with abducting and raping two women in Portsmouth. A jury acquitted him on the most serious charges, finding him guilty only of sodomy.
His arrest Friday came as good news, but no surprise, to Payne's sister.
``I'm very pleased,'' said Dale Pennell, 46. ``I never gave up hope.''
When then-Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Robert C. Slaughter III made the motion to dismiss charges against Rogers on June 21, 1988, Slaughter said he still believed police had the right man, and promised the investigation would continue.
In 1988, DNA technology had never been used in Norfolk. Methods for examining DNA evidence have advanced dramatically since then.
Norfolk police spokesman Larry Hill said homicide investigators began to re-examine the case several months ago using evidence long in police custody. They also tracked down and re-interviewed many of the original witnesses.
Wednesday, the case was taken before a grand jury, which indicted Rogers on charges of murder, rape, robbery, credit card theft and credit card forgery.
He was arrested Friday afternoon at a construction site at Norfolk Naval Base, Hill said.
LENGTH: Short : 45 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB