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

DATE: Sunday, January 14, 1996               TAG: 9601140054
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                         LENGTH: Medium:   56 lines

MURDER SUSPECT HANGS HIMSELF IN CHESAPEAKE JAIL MARVIN HOOKS, CHARGED WITH KILLING HIS WIFE, WAS TAKEN OFF SUICIDE WATCH BEFORE HE DIED.

A man brought to jail early Saturday after being charged with the murder of his estranged wife was found dead in his cell hours later, an apparent suicide, police said.

Although Marvin L. Hooks, 61, was initially placed on suicide watch because of comments he made to police and deputies, he was evaluated by city mental health workers and removed from special observation about three hours after his arrival, jail officials said in a press release. At 9:15 a.m., Hooks was found hanging in his cell, authorities said.

Around 8 p.m. Friday, Hooks called police to his home in the 3700 block of Douglas Road and invited in the first officer who arrived.

Hooks led the officer to the rear bedroom, where the officer found Hooks' estranged wife, Bernadette, lying motionless at the foot of a bed, police spokesman Dick Black said.

Black said Bernadette Hooks, 46, had been shot. It is the city's first homicide of the year.

Bernadette Hooks had moved out of the home because of disagreements with her husband but returned to visit Friday, investigators said.

Detectives charged Marvin Hooks with murder and using a gun in a crime.

The Sheriff's Department issued a written statement Saturday - a five-paragraph chronology of Hooks' short time in jail - but refused to comment further.

Part of the statement read: ``Chesapeake Mental Health was called to evaluate Mr. Hooks and arrived at approximately (8 a.m.) at which time he was evaluated and cleared by Mental Health for (placement into) the general population.''

City mental health officials couldn't be reached for comment.

Typically when an inmate makes suicide threats, city mental health workers interview the prisoner and try to determine his emotional state. Suicide threats, especially among prisoners being held for domestic crimes, aren't uncommon. The interview isn't an extensive mental evaluation.

Local jail officials have said that even when they take extensive precautions, it is difficult to thwart an inmate bent on suicide.

Chesapeake jail inmate Janice Eastman, who confessed to killing her husband and two children, spent a month at Central State Hospital for evaluation and treatment because she had tried to kill herself several times. After the treatment, her suicide watch was lifted. Less than three weeks later, she hanged herself with bed linens.

An investigation into Hooks' death continues, police said.

KEYWORDS: MURDER ARREST SUICIDE CHESAPEAKE CITY

JAIL by CNB