THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 5, 1996 TAG: 9601050454
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
A man jailed on charges that he slashed his wife in a failed murder-suicide plan has been indicted for allegedly hiring someone to kill her and the man he apparently believed she was seeing.
Wayne Heston, 28, who is assigned to Navy destroyer tender Yellowstone, already was being held without bond when the new pair of charges of conspiracy to commit murder was filed Tuesday.
Police spokesman Mike Carey said the case dates back to the evening of Sept. 29, when officers were called to the 1000 block of Whales Run Court, where a stabbing had been reported.
They found Jerrie Heston, 29, with a slashed throat.
She was taken to the Trauma Center at Virginia Beach General Hospital, where surgeons were able to save her life.
About an hour after police found Jerrie Heston, her husband was discovered in a nearby wooded area with his throat cut.
He, too, was taken to Virginia Beach General for surgery.
Police quickly linked the slashings and, after he was released from the hospital, charged Wayne Heston with malicious wounding.
The investigation revealed that ``she was asking for a divorce,'' said Det. Donald Rimer of the Police Department's Domestic Violence Unit.
At the time, Wayne Heston was stationed in Charleston on the Yellowstone and ``he believed that she had developed a new relationship,'' Rimer said.
Heston allegedly came to Virginia Beach ``with the intent, we believe, to murder her; cut her throat and cut his own,'' Rimer said. ``He didn't realize at the time, obviously, that neither one was going to work.''
Wayne Heston has denied the allegations, however, Rimer said. ``He has never admitted that he did anything.''
The next chapter in the case allegedly unfolded while Wayne Heston was in jail, awaiting trial on the malicious wounding charge, police said.
``While in the correctional center, Mr. Heston attempted to arrange for the murder of his wife and a mutual friend,'' Carey said.
Rimer said Wayne Heston's inquiries were intercepted by the Norfolk office of the FBI and, on Nov. 9, an undercover officer contacted Heston in jail.
``He hired our undercover agent,'' Rimer said.
Although he could not be specific about the alleged arrangements, Rimer said the deal included a ``relatively large sum of money, plus some property for both of their deaths.''
Since then, both Jerrie Heston and the alleged would-be victim have moved out of Virginia for their protection, police said.
Rimer expressed thanks to the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service for assistance in the case.
Wayne Heston is scheduled for an appearance in Circuit Court on Feb. 26.
KEYWORDS: ASSAULT MURDER FOR HIRE by CNB