ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 11, 1997 TAG: 9701130025
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
SPOTSYLVANIA
A .38-CALIBER HANDGUN may be the piece of evidence that links the three cases.
The three teen-agers charged with robbing and killing a man in a Dale City rest area on Interstate 95 also are suspects in a drive-by shooting and an armed robbery, authorities said.
The cases may be linked by a .38-caliber handgun recovered from the home of Andre V. Carter, 18, and Michael T. Baggett Jr., 19, police said.
Carter, Baggett and 19-year-old Khalif Rodriquez were charged Thursday in the rest stop slaying of Bobby Lee Durham of Dover, Pa.
Police believe Carter was the triggerman, and he could face the death penalty. He is charged with capital murder and robbery.
Baggett and Rodriquez face murder, robbery and weapon charges.
Durham, 51, had helped his disabled sister into the women's rest room, and family members became suspicious when he didn't come out of the men's rest room after several minutes.
Carter's preliminary hearing will he held this month. Baggett and Rodriguez are scheduled for preliminary hearings in February.
Ballistics tests show there is a strong indication that the gun used in the rest stop killing also was used in a drive-by shooting Nov. 25 in Spotsylvania, state police spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell said.
In that case, a 36-year-old man reported that someone fired at least three shots at his truck about 2:15 a.m., shattering the windshield. Authorities recovered several bullets lodged in the floor of the truck.
Spotsylvania authorities say they also plan to charge the three teen-agers in a Jan. 3 armed robbery. In that case, two teens armed with a handgun and a baseball bat allegedly approached two people sitting in a car and demanded their money and wallets.
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