ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 29, 1996 TAG: 9611290124
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C6 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: DANVILLE
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEMO: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.
Police discovered the body of a man stuffed into a closet early Thursday, but were refusing to tie the death to the murder of a Danville couple found earlier this week only a few hundred yards away.
Police also were investigating the death of a Danville man who was shot in the chest and killed Thursday.
Prior to this week, the south-central Virginia city of 52,500 had only six murders for all of 1996.
``Whatever is going on, we wish it would stop,'' said police Capt. Al Smith.
Smith said Willie Troy Kernodle, 24, was found about 3 a.m. Thursday in a Danville home with a gunshot wound to his chest. He died later at the Danville Regional Medical Center.
Police said they had no suspects.
Later in the morning, police discovered the body of Archie Moore, 33, in a closet in his Danville apartment.
Smith said Moore had failed to pick up his sister at the airport earlier in the day. Police were called to check his residence about 9 a.m. and found the body.
Capt. Bill Rigney, who had the apartment manager open Moore's apartment when police got no response from inside, said the cause of death was not apparent.
Thursday afternoon, police arrested Percy Levar Walton, 18, of Danville in connection with Moore's death. He was being held in Danville city jail and was scheduled to be arraigned Monday.
Moore's and Kernodle's bodies were to be sent to Roanoke today for autopsies.
Tuesday, police acting on a call from a relative found the bodies of Jesse and Elizabeth Kendrick in their home. Autopsies showed they had been shot in the head.
The Kendricks' daughter had flown in Monday to spend Thanksgiving with her parents. As in the Moore case, the couple failed to pick up their daughter at the airport.
The daughter could get no one to answer the door Monday and spent the night at an aunt's house across the street. She called police Tuesday morning.
Police said they found evidence of forced entrance at the Kendrick home and estimated the couple had been dead for several days. The Kendricks' car, which had been taken, was found a short distance away.
Police said there was no connection between the Kendrick deaths and Moore's slaying, although ``obviously, there are similarities,'' Smith said.
Crimestoppers in Danville was offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in the Kendrick deaths.
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB