ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, October 25, 1996 TAG: 9610250097
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
The family of a University of Virginia student who died after her apartment caught fire has asked authorities not to prosecute two students who may have accidentally caused the blaze.
The two seniors, as a prank, threw a pair of smoke bombs into the apartment of 22-year-old Elizabeth Lunsford McGowan during a party early Oct. 17.
One of the bombs apparently smoldered unnoticed in a chair, which caught fire after the party ended and McGowan, known to her friends as Lu, went to bed.
``They were Lu's friends,'' said Elizabeth's father, Richard McGowan. ``What they did was stupid, but not malicious.''
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 25 linesby CNB