ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, September 29, 1996 TAG: 9609300061
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK CLOTHIER STAFF WRITER
A third man was arrested in Richmond early Saturday in connection with the slaying of a Fairlawn man.
Douglas Edward Gibson, 31, of Eagle View Trailer Park in Fairlawn, was arrested by Richmond police at 3 a.m., Pulaski County Sheriff Ralph Dobbins said.
Gibson, along with Joseph Ray Graham, 27, and Darick Dewayne Wetzel, 22, has been charged with murder in the stabbing and drowning of Elmer Eugene Fisher. Graham and Wetzel also live in the trailer park.
Fisher's body was found near Parrott Friday morning, floating in the New River.
His family filed a missing person report Sunday evening when the 43-year-old Fisher didn't come home. A man, who said two men bragged about the killing and showed him the body, led investigators to Fisher's body.
Gibson was held Saturday in Richmond City Jail and will likely be brought back to Pulaski County today, Dobbins said. Graham and Wetzel are being held in the Pulaski County Jail without bond.
All three men are expected to be arraigned Monday morning in Pulaski County General District Court, Dobbins said.
Gibson had claimed to be a witness to the stabbing and drowning of Fisher and had been questioned by investigators about the incident, Dobbins said. He was considered a suspect but was further implicated after the arrests of Graham and Wetzel.
Graham was arrested without incident about 6:30 p.m. Friday as he and his girlfriend left a relative's house in the Dry Fork section of Tazewell County.
Wetzel was arrested when he showed up at his trailer shortly before 11 p.m. Friday, also without incident.
This week, Gibson told investigators Fisher willingly went with him, Graham and Wetzel to the river to drink beer and talk that Sunday.
Gibson said a discussion about a fight Fisher, Graham and Wetzel had the week before ignited anger, leading to the slaying.
Fisher's death is the second homicide in Pulaski County this year.
Anthony Keith Rempson, 19, of Washington, D.C., was found shot to death in the county's New River community Aug. 30. Derrick Leon Chapman, 18, of Radford has been charged with first-degree murder in that case.
Staff writer Betty Hayden Snider contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB