THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 20, 1995 TAG: 9501200528
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
A Peninsula man has been arrested in Ohio in connection with the rape and killing of a 75-year-old Newport News woman whose body was found at her home more than two weeks ago.
James M. Sample, 20, of the first block of Fauquier Place in Newport News, confessed Thursday to the rape and murder of Madeline Barker, said James Whitaker, a municipal court prosecutor in Lebanon, Ohio.
The prosecutor said Sample made a statement to a Newport News detective.
Patricia L. Mahaffy, spokeswoman for the Newport News Police Department, confirmed only that a detective had gone to Ohio to pick up a suspect in the slaying of Barker. Mahaffy said murder charges might be filed today.
Jerri Redfern of the Ohio State Patrol in Lebanon said Sample and a passenger were arrested in a stolen four-door Oldsmobile Monday just west of Lebanon on Interstate 75. Sample was charged with receiving stolen property, carrying a concealed weapon, a seat belt violation and operating a vehicle without a license.
The passenger, Chad E. Phillips, 20, of Clyde, Ohio, is believed to have been a hitchhiker. He was charged with two minor violations.
Sample is being held on a bond of $200,000 in the Warren County Jail in Ohio. He is scheduled to have an extradition hearing this morning.
Sample allegedly told police that after killing Barker he stole a Mazda 323 in Virginia and drove to Kentucky. There he allegedly stole an Oldsmobile, the car he was driving when arrested.
Barker's body was found Jan. 11 about 12:15 p.m. at her home on Balthrope Road in Newport News. Her 1989 Chrysler New Yorker was reported missing at the time but was later identified as a car that had been found at Newport News Park Jan. 9.
Barker was the last of three women found slain on the Peninsula, all within 24 hours on Jan. 10-11. Police said at the time that they did not believe the three slayings were related and since have been proven correct. Two other men have been arrested in the other killings, both of which occurred in Hampton. MEMO: Mike Coleman of the Warren County Western Star in Lebanon, Ohio,
contributed to this story.
KEYWORDS: RAPE SEX CRIME MURDER ARREST by CNB