THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 2, 1995 TAG: 9508020504
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
A 56-year-old man was stabbed to death Tuesday outside his Sykes Avenue residence, police said.
Police identified him as Charles R. Jones. A leasing agent for the Oceana-area cluster of brick duplexes said Jones had lived there 15 years. Neighbors said the white-haired man was a polite, friendly person who helped residents with their tax forms and frequently returned wandering neighborhood children to their homes.
``The man was like your dad, or your granddad,'' said a neighbor who asked not to be identified. ``I can't believe someone did that. If you were nice to him, he was nice to you.''
Jones was found by police and paramedics near his residence's side entrance, sprawled between a barbecue grill and two rusting lawn chairs. He had been stabbed near his left shoulder.
A woman who lived with Jones, identified by neighbors as Nancy Jacobs, told detectives Jones was talking with a man outside the duplex just before the stabbing. Jones then walked into the duplex's side entrance and said he needed a towel and a ride to the hospital, Jacobs told police.
He staggered into the dusty side yard and collapsed on the ground. Someone put a pillow under his head before police arrived.
Debbie Cowan, the leasing agent, said Jones was never involved in any trouble at the unnamed complex a few blocks off Virginia Beach Boulevard.
``He stayed to himself,'' she said. ``Sometimes I saw him working in hid garden."
Detectives questioned several people, but no one was charged as of late Tuesday.
KEYWORDS: STABBING MURDER by CNB