THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 4, 1994 TAG: 9408040558
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN E. QUINONES MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
All he wanted was to visit his mother's grave and the grave of the daughter he was convicted of killing.
That's what Thomas L. Bonney says drove him to escape through a trash compacting chute at Central Prison in Raleigh on Friday morning along with fellow inmate James Stromer.
Authorities had speculated that Stromer, educated in engineering and construction, had masterminded the escape. But Bonney said he got the idea that morning after emptying trash. He had remained saddened, he said, since his mother's death five years ago.
``I was on death row, and North Carolina wouldn't let me go to her funeral,'' Bonney said in an interview from Norfolk City Jail.
He told Stromer of his plans just minutes before going down the chute.
``After I jumped, he jumped after me,'' Bonney said. ``I was real surprised to see him.''
Bonney said he didn't know Stromer long, but had grown to like the 48-year-old who was serving a life sentence for rape, kidnapping and burglary.
``He had just been transferred in from another prison, but he was a real nice guy. He used to help me empty the trash and clean up,'' Bonney said.
Bonney was vague about what happened after they slid down the chute, but authorities believe the two escaped prisoners rode in a garbage truck to a landfill, then stole a car and drove to Hampton Roads.
Bonney said the last time he saw Stromer was when Stromer dropped him off near Willoughby Spit on Saturday morning.
A car believed to have been stolen by the two men was found Sunday in Waynesboro. The car had a license plate stolen from another vehicle in Virginia Beach.
Bonney said he walked along Ocean View Avenue on Saturday to Granby Street and then down Granby Street to the Forest Lawn Cemetery, where his mother and daughter are buried.
``I loved my mother, she was my best friend. It's a hurting thing to lose your mother,'' said Bonney, who was dressed in a hospital smock, his right arm in a cast after being injured during the escape.
He also felt compelled to pay his respects at the grave of Kathy Bonney, the 19-year-old daughter he was convicted of shooting 27 times in 1988. He had been sentenced to death, but it was later commuted to life in prison.
``She was my oldest daughter and she was special. Not that she was more special than my other children, but when you have a baby for the first time you feel like climbing on the roof and screaming `Thank you, God.' That's how I felt about her.''
Asked how he felt standing at the grave of his victim, Bonney replied sternly. ``I never said I did it.''
There had been reports that Kathy Bonney's grave had been tampered with over the weekend, but cemetery manager Ronald Harris said the reports were false.
After leaving the cemetery, Bonney walked back to the Ocean View area, where he wandered for the next four days. He offered no resistance when police picked him up near 13th View Street.
In fact, he said, if he had not been picked up soon he would have turned himself in so he could get food and medication.
``I wasn't trying to hide from anybody. I just walked around all day having a good time. You know how it is to take off your shoes and your socks and feel the sand and water on your feet. I was just enjoying myself.''
He said he had no regrets about the escape, despite being injured, suffering without food for four days and being recaptured.
``It was something I had to do, and I'm glad I did it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff color photo by CHRISTOPHER REDDICK
Escaped murderer Thomas L. Bonney gives an interview Wednesday
inside Norfolk City Jail. He escaped Friday from a Raleigh prison
and was captured Tuesday night in Norfolk.
KEYWORDS: PRISON ESCAPE MURDER
by CNB