THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 15, 1995 TAG: 9504150309
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ASHEBORO LENGTH: Long : 117 lines
Neighbors had various reactions to learning of the accusations against a truck driver who confessed to one murder and who was suspected in killings in as many as seven states.
Residents of the Asheboro trailer park where Sean Patrick Goble lived had mixed opinions of their neighbor, whom they said they rarely saw.
Nineteen-year-old neighbor Amanda Keeling described him as a ``scary kind of fellow.''
Former park owner Earl Bower had a different opinion.
``He'd pull in late Saturday night and go out Sunday. As nice a guy as you could ask for,'' Bower said, adding that Goble paid his rent on time and never caused any trouble.
``A friendly guy,'' was how another neighbor, Johnny Heaton, described Goble. ``Jolly as Santa Claus. He was so jolly it was weird.''
Goble, 28, was arrested in Winston-Salem on Thursday and later confessed to the slaying of Brenda Kay Hagy, 45, of Bloomington, Ind. Hagy's body was found along an Interstate 81 service road in Washington County, Va., in January.
At the time of Hagy's death, Sheriff Joe Mitchell said it was similar to slayings of women found along highways in North Carolina, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and New York.
On Friday, Goble was being questioned about other killings, including the death of Nona Cobb, whose body was found July 7, 1992, on an Interstate 77 on-ramp in Surry County, near Elkin.
As news of Goble's arrest spread, his neighbors gathered outside their trailers to share their fears.
``I can't believe this. It's terrible,'' said Cindy Heaton, who along with her husband, Johnny, lives across a dirt road from Goble's trailer. ``I left my children alone beside something like this.''
Heaton said Goble didn't keep regular hours, apparently because of his job. She added that he was divorced and that his ex-wife and her husband would sometimes visit him.
Reached Friday at her job at an Asheboro convenience store, Goble's ex-wife wouldn't comment on the case.
``I'm not saying nothing,'' she said.
Behind Goble's trailer, near where neighbors said he parked his rig, were two late-model cars, one an Oldsmobile Royale. Neighbors said Goble sometimes drove the Oldsmobile, which was cluttered with bags of what appeared to be trash. On the back seat were a rope, a gas can and what appeared to be electrical wire.
Thursday night, investigators entered Goble's trailer through a side window. They took photographs, but it was not clear if they seized any evidence.
Maj. Allen McNeill of the Randolph County Sheriff's Department said the county had turned over jail records and a recent booking photograph of Goble to the State Bureau of Investigation but was not conducting an investigation of its own.
Most of Goble's brushes with the law in Randolph County involved traffic violations rather than violent offenses or property crimes, McNeill said.
A check at the Randolph County Clerk of Court's Office showed Goble was charged with a number of minor traffic offenses. Criminal records showed Goble also had a 1991 conviction in Cumberland County for misdemeanor possession of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia and was charged with writing worthless checks in 1989 and 1992. MEMO: SUSPECTED VICTIMS
Sean Patrick Goble confessed to the strangulation death of Brenda Kay
Hagy, 45, of Bloomington, Ind. Other victims whose deaths bear
similarities to that of Hagy include the following:
North Carolina
An unidentified woman, believed to be about 18 years old, who was
last seen at a Burlington truck stop in 1990.
Cheryl Mason, who police said worked as a prostitute and whose body
was found in Guilford County in 1991.
Nona Cobb, whose body was found July 7, 1992, on an Interstate 77
on-ramp in Surry County, near Elkin.
An unidentified woman whose body was found along a road in western
Guilford County Feb. 19, 1995.
Tennessee
An unidentified woman found in 1985 along Interstate 81 in Greene
County. She had suffered severe blows to the head and authorities have
not been able to identify her.
Margaret Sue Goins, 26, of Soddy-Daisy, Tenn., whose body was found
along Interstate 81 in Sullivan County near Tri-Cities Regional Airport.
Her body had been run over by a tractor-trailer.
Rebecca Alice Hanes, 36, of Columbus, Ohio, whose body was found
March 19, 1995, less than a mile from where Goins' body was located. She
had been smothered.
Ohio
An unidentified woman, age 20-25, found near Interstate 75 in Miami
County.
Marcia K. Matthews, aka Pepper, age 25, found June 12, 1985, on
Interstate 71 in Richland County.
Shirley Dean Taylor, age 26, found July 20, 1986, on Ohio 224 in
Medina County.
April Barnett, age 19, found Dec. 4, 1986, on Interstate 71 in
Ashland County.
Unidentified woman, age 20-25, found Aug. 10, 1987, on Interstate 70
in Mongtomery County.
Anna Marie Patterson, aka Cindy Lawson or Jenny Morrison, age 27,
found March 23, 1987, near Interstate 71 in Warren County.
Unidentified woman, age 25-35, found April 19, 1990, near Interstate
70 and Ohio 37 in Licking County.
Kathryn Hill, aka Wendy Turner, found Nov. 5, 1990, near Interstate
280 in Wood County. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
Randolph County Sheriff's Department officers seal the area around
the mobile home where Sean Patrick Goble lived near Asheboro.
Residents of the trailer park had mixed opinions of Goble, whom they
said they rarely saw.
by CNB