ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 3, 1996 TAG: 9607030051
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Above
When Veronica Via hurried out of the Transitional Living Center early on a December morning, carrying her infant daughter in her arms, the staff did not suspect anything was wrong.
"She just left in a rush with the baby bundled up," said Ellen Brown, director of human resources for Total Action Against Poverty, which runs the program for homeless people on 24th Street Northwest.
Via and other residents of the old railroad dormitory, which has been converted into a program that offers shelter and counseling for the homeless, were free to come and go. Via had a car, so her sudden departure did not seem unusual.
Seven months later - after learning that Via, 28, was charged Monday with beating her 14-day-old daughter to death at the center - Brown said she knew of nothing the center's staff could have done to detect or prevent the incident.
"It was her right to leave with the baby. She did not say, `My baby is dead,' at that point, so the staff had no way of knowing."
Brown said there was no evidence in December that Jasmine Monique Via was abused or neglected during her short life at the center. No one witnessed or heard anything unusual from the room where Via and her baby were staying, Brown said.
"As far as we know, the baby could have been alive when she left here," she said. However, Brown also said it was "very possible" that the child was killed at the center, as Roanoke authorities allege.
An autopsy determined that the Jasmine Via died from a head injury, but it found no evidence of prior injuries or abuse.
"I don't think there's anything we could have done" to prevent the death, Brown said. In the eight years the center has been open, she said, "we've had many mentally ill or emotionally disturbed mothers here, and this is the first baby that we have lost."
Several hours after Via left the center, she called and told her counselor that her baby was dead. The center immediately contacted police and has been cooperating with their investigation, Brown said.
Police said Via apparently took the infant from the center to a Roanoke hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Although the death seemed suspicious from the start, authorities did not have enough evidence to file charges until last month, when Via made a statement to police.
In the statement, Via said she struck her daughter repeatedly because she was frustrated with her crying. Via also told police that she was unsure of her abilities as a homeless and single parent, and that she wanted to send her daughter to "a better place."
"I knew that she was going to be with the Lord," she told Detective Keith Sidwell of the Roanoke Police Department's youth bureau.
Following Via's indictment Monday by a grand jury in Roanoke Circuit Court, authorities gave her until Friday to turn herself in or post a $20,000 bond. Via, who is no longer a resident of the center, was not being held as of 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Details about Via remained sketchy. She checked into the Transitional Living Center sometime last year, Brown said, when she was pregnant and homeless. Via told authorities that her husband had recently left her, and that she was worried about raising a child alone.
Soon after Via entered the program, her counselor referred her to Blue Ridge Community Services for a mental evaluation. Via did not follow up on the referral, Brown said.
On Dec. 3, Via gave birth to her daughter. The indictment alleges that she killed the infant Dec.16.
At the time, Via was living in a section of the center reserved for mothers with young children. A case worker made regular checks to monitor the child's care and condition, Brown said, but it would have been impossible to watch the mother and child constantly.
"Of course we check on parents regularly," she said, "but we can't tell a parent when they can come and go."
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines KEYWORDS: ROMURby CNB