ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, November 5, 1996              TAG: 9611050076
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-4  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON 

POLICE IDENTIFY BODY IN CHURCH AS MAN, 22

Police have identified the body of a man found dead last week in Tabernacle Baptist Church in the 1900 block of East Main Street in Salem.

He was identified as Christopher Jonathan Lunsford, 22, who had been living near the church for about a week. Before that he lived on Williamson Road in Roanoke, said Capt. Jeff Dudley, Salem's deputy police chief.

Someone contacted the police Friday after hearing a description of the body on the 6 p.m. news.

Police believe Lunsford had been dead about 48 hours before an employee of the church found the body last Wednesday in a hallway between two classrooms.

Dudley said police have made no connection between Lunsford and the church.

Police are waiting for the results of a toxicology report to determine a cause of death. There were no signs of foul play.

LENGTH: Short :   27 lines
KEYWORDS: FATALITY