THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 10, 1995 TAG: 9508100466
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
A man whose 10-year prison sentence for torching a Little League concession stand was reduced to 12 months last year was arrested Wednesday and charged with killing 17-year-old Amber Marie Zajac.
Kenneth N. Pallett, 22, was charged with first-degree murder after an officer near the crime scene noticed fresh wounds on the Derby Run Trailer Park resident, homicide Sgt. Tommy Baum said. He wouldn't elaborate on the nature of the wounds.
Pallett is in jail without bond. The trailer park is near woods where the Ocean Lakes High School student's body was found early Tuesday.
She was found near one of several well-worn paths crisscrossing the woods between the trailer park and the Redwing neighborhood, where Amber lived. The paths are used by teens as shortcuts between neighborhoods, residents said.
Amber's father and his girlfriend found the girl's body after she failed to return from a Monday-night visit to a friend's house. A police source said she had been strangled.
Baum said Pallett was only slightly acquainted with Amber and that the two did not have any type of relationship.
Detectives began focusing on Pallett, who lives in a double-wide mobile home in the 1200 block of Secretariat Run, after Officer Larry Williams told them about Pallett's minor wounds. Williams was assigned to record the names of people near the crime scene Tuesday, police spokesman Lou Thurston said.
Baum credited Williams with providing the case's break.
Early Wednesday, detectives searched Pallett's residence for evidence and took articles of clothing, towels, and strands of hair from a black T-shirt, according to a search warrant.
On Tuesday, more than 30 police recruits and supervisors searched for evidence in the woods near where Amber's body was found. They collected pieces of clothing, a gold chain, and other items. It wasn't clear if the articles were related to the homicide.
Pallett had many run-ins with authorities, starting as a juvenile, court records show.
On May 1, 1994, he broke into a Little League concession stand on Firefall Drive because a friend told him $400 would be inside, according to court records. When Pallett didn't find money, he stole candy and then burned down the building.
The high-school dropout was identified by fingerprints left on a discarded cookie wrapper, court records show.
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in September, with all but one year suspended. That meant he was to be locked in the city jail 12 months, but he was given credit for the time he had served awaiting trial.
The unemployed painter, who listed no assets in court records, also was ordered to pay more than $7,000 restitution.
Just a year before the burglary and arson conviction, Pallett pleaded guilty to stealing sunglasses and 10 cassette tapes from a car. He was fined $200 and sentenced to 30 days in jail.
A few months after that, he was arrested again, this time on a drug charge. Court records show prosecutors decided not to pursue those charges. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Suspect: Kenneth N. Pallett, a 22-year-old high-school dropout, was
convicted in 1994 of burning a Little League concession stand.
Color Photo
Victim: Amber Marie Zajac, a 17-year-old Ocean Lakes High School
student, was found strangled early Tuesday near her home.
KEYWORDS: MURDER ARREST JUVENILE STRANGLE by CNB