THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9512290275
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: 1995: YEAR IN REVIEW
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
Virginia Beach has never had much of a serious crime problem - except for those who are victims of crimes.
But in 1995, the community witnessed two crimes that had the sort of galvanizing effect few crimes attain: the slayings of Jennifer L. Evans, a pre-med student vacationing here from Georgia, and Joseph D. Garcia III, a Salem High School student.
The first Virginia Beach residents ever heard of Evans was that she was missing. From there, the community learned that she was a native of Tucker, Ga., who one day dreamed of becoming a pediatrician.
She was a 21-year-old honors student at Emory University in Atlanta. She liked animals, children and seem poised for a great future until June when two men were arrested a few days after she was reported missing. The two men led police to Evans' decomposing body in a Newport News park.
Suddenly, the promise was gone. The girl who was merely a tourist in town for a little fun had become every parent's nightmare: the victim of a stranger's attack in a strange city.
According to testimony at a preliminary hearing, Evans and a friend were staying at a beach house in Sandbridge and decided to hear music at a nightclub called The Bayou. A third friend went along.
They arrived at the club about 11 p.m. June 19. Soon after, Evans met Billy Joe Brown, 23, and Dustin A. Turner, 20, two Navy SEAL trainees. Evans reportedly was impressed when Turner told her he was a SEAL, said Andria Burdette, an Emory student who roomed with Evans and who testified at the hearing.
By 1 a.m., Burdette wanted to leave the club, but Evans stalled and continued talking with Turner. She said Turner wanted to come back to the beach house with them. Burdette said he couldn't.
The girlfriends compromised and agreed that Evans would spend some more time with Turner and then meet them in the parking lot at 2 a.m. Evans and Turner then headed back toward the club. Evans never showed up at the designated hour.
The other two girls returned to the beach house, thinking Evans must have gotten a ride home. Police found her body days later when Turner led them to a wooded area of Newport News Park where he and Brown allegedly dumped her body and concealed it with leaves.
The two men will stand trial later this winter.
As for the death of Garcia, it was the kind of shocking murder that seemed almost impossible to believe - high school children killing a fellow classmate. According to prosecutors, Kelly Dara wanted revenge against Garcia because he had rejected her romantic overtures and thus hatched a plan with friend, Joshua M. Johnson, to lure Garcia to Dara's home in Rosemont Forest.
Both Dara and Johnson denied the charge, but juries did not believe them.
Police said Dara set the trap and got Garcia to come over by paging him. He came by March 6 and in short order, police said, Johnson emerged and stabbed Garcia four times.
Johnson and Dara fled to an Outer Banks motel, where they were arrested the next day. They were convicted in June of the crime. Johnson was sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years.
Dara got life in prison. Under Virginia's new no-parole policy, she will stay behind bars until she becomes eligible for ``geriatric parole'' at age 60, in the year 2037.
- Tom Holden ILLUSTRATION: ABOVE: Al and Delores Evans face the press after learning of the
murder of their daughter, Jennifer Evans (below left).
RIGHT: Joseph D. Garcia III, a Salem High student, was murdered by
two fellow teenagers.
KEYWORDS: MURDER by CNB