THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, January 12, 1996               TAG: 9601120530
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: NORFOLK                            LENGTH: Medium:   52 lines

BODIES OF 2 WOMEN FOUND IN NORFOLK POLICE ARE INVESTIGATING THE DEATHS; 1 BODY WAS FOUND IN MIDDLE SCHOOL'S PARKING LOT.

A student arriving at Lake Taylor Middle School just after 7 a.m. Thursday discovered a body of a woman in the school's parking lot, launching the police department's second homicide investigation of the day.

Two hours before that discovery, police had responded to the report of another woman's body, found lying in the street in the 200 block of Ridgeway Circle, located across the city in the Pamlico neighborhood.

Neither woman had been identified late Thursday.

Investigators did not say the deaths were linked, but they had not ruled out the possibility, police spokesman Larry Hill said.

Toni Y. Portlock, Lake Taylor's principal, said the woman found there was not a student or staff member.

``This morning I did make an announcement to the students and staff that an incident had occurred,'' Portlock said. ``We said that everyone could rest assured that everyone in our Lake Taylor family was safe.''

Hill said investigators would not know anything more about the woman until her identity could be confirmed. He said she appeared to be between 25 and 35 years old.

Portlock said notices were sent to teachers, asking them to keep students away from windows, even if it meant shutting the blinds. Secretaries, who fielded a number of calls from parents, also were told about the incident to prevent rumors from spreading, Portlock said.

Any students or staff members who were upset was referred to the counseling staff, she said. By mid-day, the school, which is located in the 1300 block of Kempsville Road, was running smoothly.

The report of the other body came in about 5:10 a.m. when a nearby resident spotted the body lying in the street on Ridgewell Circle, which is located in the Pamlico neighborhood several miles away near the Norfolk Naval Air Station..

Police released little information on either woman's description. They had not determined the cause of death in either case early Thursday afternoon, but they suspect foul play was involved.

``There's every indication to suspect the investigations are homicide cases,'' Hill said. MEMO: Police are asking anyone with information on either woman to call Crime

Line at 664-4040.

KEYWORDS: UNIDENTIFIED BODIES by CNB