ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 8, 1996 TAG: 9603080066
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: FLOYD
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
Three men already facing capital murder charges in Montgomery County have been indicted in Floyd County in the theft of guns and other items from a Alum Ridge home.
Authorities believe guns - stolen from the home Dec. 4 - were used the next night, when Alexander DeFilippis was carjacked from a Blacksburg convenience store, and later robbed and shot to death in a rural section of Montgomery County.
Benjamin L. Lilly, 28, his brother Mark Anthony Lilly, 20, and Gary Wayne Barker, 19, have been charged with the slaying, carjacking, abduction and robbery.
The Montgomery County trio also face charges of robbing two Giles County convenience stores later that night.
Last week, a Floyd County grand jury indicted the trio on charges they broke into Danny Wayne Sanders' home and stole a shotgun, a rifle and a safe, car titles, currency and alcoholic beverages.
Deputies searched Barker's Merrimac trailer Dec. 6, after Barker told a Floyd County deputy that he had placed some of the items in a bag and hidden them under a couch, according to a search warrant filed in Montgomery.
Authorities recovered coins, a pocket knife, a tape measure, a belt buckle, assorted stamps and an envelope containing Canadian currency.
The Montgomery and Giles charges against the Lilly brothers and Barker will go to grand juries in April.
Other indictments issued March 1 by the Floyd County grand jury included:
* An aggravated malicious wounding charge against a Floyd County Jail inmate, who is accused of attacking another inmate Dec. 30. Steven Dale Branscome, 20, of Check, is charged with the wounding of Michael J. Cornelison, 22, of Indian Valley.
Cornelison had to be hospitalized for injuries that included damage to his spleen, Commonwealth's Attorney Gino Williams said. The jail incurred thousands of dollars in medical expenses for Cornelison's treatment. That possibly could be recouped as restitution if Branscome is convicted of the charge. Cornelison, who was serving time for violating the terms of his probation on a marijuana charge, has since been released from the jail, Williams said.
Branscome is in the jail for charges that include trespassing, reckless driving and violating his probation for previous convictions, according to court records.
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