ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 3, 1996 TAG: 9610030006
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
Judge says family has right to body
NORFOLK - The body of a woman slain five months ago will be cremated and her ashes scattered over the Atlantic Ocean, despite her husband's refusal to release her body for burial.
A judge authorized the release after months of legal wrangling.
Megan Jones' body has been with the state medical examiner since May, when she was found dead in an upstairs bedroom of her home.
Her estranged husband, Tobin Jones, has been charged in her death. As next of kin, Tobin Jones refused to release the body, despite repeated requests from her family, saying he wanted another autopsy conducted.
Megan Jones' parents have said they exhausted their finances in a legal battle with Tobin Jones for the right to fulfill their daughter's wish that she be cremated and have her ashes scattered over the sea.
Last week, the medical examiner's office declared the body ``unclaimed'' and prepared to turn it over to the sheriff's office for a state-paid pauper's burial. On Tuesday, a Norfolk Circuit judge authorized the release of the body to her family.
Tobin Jones, a psychiatrist, has been found incompetent to stand trial. He is being held at Central State Hospital in Petersburg.
- Associated Press
Indictment accuses 4 of illegal gambling
RICHMOND - Four Richmond-area men have been indicted on gambling charges, federal and state officials said Wednesday.
Helen Fahey, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said her office worked with the Internal Revenue Service and police in Henrico, Hanover and Chesterfield counties, as well as Richmond.
The indictment alleges that a business run by the men illegally made as much as $2,000 a day taking bets on college and professional football, basketball and baseball games.
The indictment also alleges that the business averaged about $1.5 million in wagers in late 1994.
- Associated Press
Wilder seeks site for slavery museum
WILLIAMSBURG - Former Gov. Douglas Wilder has resumed searching for a site near Jamestown to build a museum of slavery.
He said Monday that $100,000 earmarked as seed money for the project in the final state budget during his term is still available.
Wilder, who took office in 1989 as the nation's first elected black governor, proposed the museum on a visit to Africa in May 1993.
Before leaving office, he helped form a nonprofit corporation, The Jamestown Slave Museum, to support the project and enlisted pledges from celebrities including comedian Bill Cosby and actress Cicely Tyson.
Wilder said he has talked with Colonial Williamsburg officials about finding a site near Jamestown, where historians believe a Dutch ship brought the first African slaves to the New World in 1619.
With the recent discovery of remains of the original 1607 fort on Jamestown Island, Wilder said, the area has become an important focus for tourists who will celebrate the 400th anniversary of Virginia's founding. Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in North America.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Medium: 65 linesby CNB