ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, April 26, 1996                 TAG: 9604260051
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-1  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER 

TESTS EXCLUDE SUSPECTS AS FATHER

Neither of two Roanoke sheriff's deputies charged with raping and sodomizing a woman is the father of her twins, DNA tests show.

The test results, filed Thursday in Roanoke Circuit Court, do not exonerate David K. Bell and Larry D. Neighbors of rape and sodomy charges.

But because 26-year-old Ronlyn Eaton had insisted that one of the men was the father of the children, the tests undoubtedly will be used by defense attorneys to challenge her credibility on that and other points.

"This is a confirmation of our position that Ronlyn Eaton's credibility is basically nonexistent," said William Cleaveland, a Roanoke attorney who represents Neighbors.

Eaton, who contacted the news media when Bell and Neighbors were charged, has asked that her name be used in reports.

After Eaton said the two men offered her a ride home from a Roanoke bar and then sexually attacked her the night of May 14, authorities learned she was pregnant with twins. So when she gave birth in December, blood samples from the infants and the defendants were submitted to a state lab for testing.

Although the DNA tests exclude both men as the father, special prosecutor Bob Bushnell said he still plans to take the case to trial.

"Very serious allegations have been made, and the test results do not - in and of themselves - negate those allegations," Bushnell said. "So the proper course to take would be to air those allegations in a trial."

No trial date has been set. The case was scheduled to go to court this week, but was postponed while authorities awaited the results of the DNA tests.

Tony Anderson, a Roanoke attorney who represents Bell, said he hopes the test results will expedite the trial. Bell, who along with Neighbors has been suspended without pay since last May, is eager to return to his job as a guard in the Roanoke City Jail, Anderson said.

Both men were off duty at the time of the alleged offense. Eaton has testified that they offered her a ride home from the bar, then raped and sodomized her repeatedly as they drove through the city.

Bell, 24, is charged with sodomy; Neighbors, 32, with rape and sodomy.

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