THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 1, 1996 TAG: 9602010301
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
Before Wednesday, Dana Marshall always believed that her 24-year-old sister, Dailene, was a peaceful, law-abiding person.
``She's never been in trouble with the police,'' Dana Marshall explained Wednesday from the front porch of her apartment in the Pine Chapel housing community near Coliseum Mall.
Police now consider Dailene Marshall and her 24-year-old friend, Jeffrey Holman, to have been a two-person crime wave that rolled from the Denbigh section of Newport News to South Carolina and back again, beginning in the second week of January and ending early Wednesday.
That's when Hampton and Newport News police took Marshall and Holman into custody. Marshall was arrested at her sister's apartment. Holman was captured on Mercury Boulevard near Coliseum Mall after a short car and foot chase.
Marshall and Holman both are being held without bail in the Newport News City Jail. They are charged with murder, carjacking, robbery, three weapons violations, conspiracy to commit a bank robbery, possession of a stolen vehicle and unauthorized use of a vehicle. Holman is also charged with being a fugitive from justice.
Police also believe that a third person may have been involved in the crime spree. They are looking for 28-year-old Kenneth Hardy, whose last known address was the 400 block of Denbigh Blvd. in Newport News. Hardy may be driving a green 1995 Pontiac Grand Am that police said was stolen from a Newport News car dealer.
Marshall and Holman are believed to have killed Michael H. Martin, 41, on Jan. 9. Martin's frozen body was found in a construction shed in Denbigh Jan. 12. He had been shot.
Martin, who recently retired from the U.S. Coast Guard after 23 years, disappeared after leaving work in York County for his home on 58th Street in Newport News. His car, a 1989 silver Mitsubishi Gallant, was later found by police abandoned in Newport News.
Martin's death went unsolved until police made a connection to Holman and Marshall after searching a car they believe the couple stole in South Carolina and drove to the Peninsula.
The car, a red 1990 Ford Mustang, was found Saturday in the parking lot of the Patton Motel at 10614 Jefferson Ave. Police found physical evidence linking the couple to Marshall, said Bobby Kipper, spokesman for the Newport News police.
The car was found soon after police in Newport News began canvassing the area around the Ivy Farms Texaco station in Newport News. The business was robbed Jan. 27.
Police were able to link the car to both Holman and Marshall, who were staying at the Patton Motel near the Texaco station.
The car had license plates belonging to another car and was listed as being the property of a South Carolina resident, Alexander Pegues, who had been reported missing in Chesterfield, S.C.
Blood stains were found throughout the vehicle, which South Carolina officials say was stolen Jan. 22.
South Carolina law-enforcement officials were expected to arrive in Newport News today.
Police did not release any information about why the couple would have killed Martin.
KEYWORDS: MURDER ROBBERY ASSAULT ARREST by CNB