ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, November 6, 1996 TAG: 9611060074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: Associated Press
Three men have been charged with torturing a University of Virginia worker until he gave them the PIN number on his ATM bank card, then beating him and leaving him for dead in the trunk of his car.
Evan James Kittredge, 33, was found late Sunday, more than 40 hours after he was abducted. The men threw him in the trunk of his car, drove to Greene County, about 15 miles away, to get money and abandoned the car in Charlottesville.
Kittredge, who had a bone marrow transplant about 10 years ago and is subject to seizures if forced to go without medication, sustained a bruised lung and several cracked ribs in the attack, said Lt. J.E. Harding of the Charlottesville police.
Kittredge was listed in fair condition Tuesday at University of Virginia Hospital. He works as a transportation manager at the university.
``It's just the grace of God that he's survived this,'' Harding said.
The suspects allegedly approached Kittredge's car and asked him for a ride about 2 a.m. Saturday. Kittredge apparently then drove to a church parking lot, where the suspects took his wallet, beat him and singed his hair with cigarettes until he divulged his PIN number, Harding said.
Once Kittredge told the men the access number, the suspects beat him unconscious and rolled him into the trunk of the car, Harding said.
``They thought they had killed him,'' he said.
Police said they found the suspects after someone called in an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers, along with information a patrol officer received from an informant.
Chad Turner Depasquale, 22, of Charlottesville was arrested after he rode in a taxi from Charlottesville to Greene County, then refused to pay his fare, Harding said.
Billy Ray McKethan, 18, was caught inside the tunnel system that runs under the UVa campus, Harding said.
A juvenile was caught at the Community Attention Home for wayward youth. Harding said the juvenile had been seen wearing a hat belonging to Kittredge sometime during the weekend.
Depasquale is charged with robbery and attempted capital murder in the beating, police said. McKethan and the juvenile, whose identity has not been released, are charged with abduction, robbery and felonious assault.
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