THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 11, 1995 TAG: 9508110224
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
The man charged in the slaying of 17-year-old Amber Marie Zajac told detectives at least 10 different stories before the investigators ended a Tuesday interview by arresting him, according to an affidavit filed Thursday.
In Kenneth N. Pallett's final version, he told detectives a black man killed the Ocean Lakes High School teen on a dirt path near her Redwing home. He said the man offered him sex with the girl. In a previous story, Pallett said two of his friends killed Amber and made the same offer.
Detectives, however, doubt the stories told by Pallett, a 22-year-old high school dropout and unemployed house painter, and have charged him with murder.
Amber was last seen walking through the Derby Run Trailer Park on her way home from a friend's house. Her body was found early Tuesday morning by her father and his girlfriend. They had begun looking for Amber when she failed to return home.
In 1994, Pallett unsuccessfully used conflicting stories when he was questioned about the burglary and arson of a Little League concession stand, court records show.
After first denying to police that he was involved in the fire, Pallett presented several scenarios before confessing to burglary. He blamed one of his friends for torching the building.
Pallett was convicted of both crimes and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, although nine years of the sentence were suspended. Pallett was released from jail not long before Amber's slaying.
According to the affidavit, Officer Larry Williams, assigned to the crime scene, noticed fresh scratches on Pallett's right arm. Pallett, of the 1200 block of Secretariat Run, agreed to talk to detectives.
After denying that he had left his trailer the night of the slaying, he later said he found the body near the trailer park, the affidavit said.
Pallett did not, however, admit killing Amber.
In the affidavit - filed in Circuit Court - police said the position of her body in the woods ``indicated that (Amber) may have been sexually assaulted,'' but the charges against Pallett do not include rape.
The doctor who performed the autopsy found marks ``that could be consistent with zippers'' from clothes. On Wednesday, police confiscated several articles of clothing from Pallett's trailer.
Pallett is in jail without bail. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
The body of Amber Marie Zajac, 17, was found early Tuesday morning
by her father and his girlfriend.
KEYWORDS: MURDER ARREST by CNB