THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 23, 1996 TAG: 9605230335
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 55 lines
A videotape that may detail the sexual-harassment allegations of a murdered Navy woman has been seized by detectives investigating the slaying, according to court records.
A search warrant filed Wednesday shows the tape was seized by city detectives last Friday from a NationsBank safety-deposit box.
Investigators would not discuss the tape or its content, but a friend of the murder victim, Elise Makdessi, has said the tape was made to outline her sexual-harassment complaints against co-workers at Oceana Naval Air Station.
The search warrant said police were looking for ``notes, books, video and audio tapes, papers, documents and other items related to allegations of sexual harassment of Elise Crosby Makdessi.''
Police found only the tape, marked ``Copy No. 12,'' in the safety-deposit box. It isn't clear if there are other copies of the tape, but the friend believes there are.
Makdessi and her husband were attacked by one of Makdessi's Oceana co-workers as the couple returned to their apartment from a dinner date May 14. The attacker tied up Makdessi and her husband and then slashed Makdessi's throat. The husband got free, grabbed a gun from inside the apartment and fatally shot the attacker, Quincy Brown, police said.
Since the slaying came soon after Makdessi's sexual-harassment allegations, police said they believe her complaints against co-workers could have been the motivation for murder.
If that's the case, the videotape may point to other suspects in the murder. Although police declined to discuss the possibility others are involved, detectives said Wednesday the case is still being ``actively investigated.''
Normally, when an attacker is killed during a crime, the case is cleared because the killer can't be prosecuted.
And while police have offered no explanation as to why this investigation is continuing, a law-enforcement source said investigators are considering whether the Navy woman's murder was part of a conspiracy.
Makdessi apparently wasn't satisfied with the way her complaints were handled, the friend said. The friend said Makdessi was transferred from air-traffic controller to telephone complaint-taker after complaining about her co-workers.
But it isn't clear if Makdessi ever filed any formal complaints.
Wayne Bailey, special agent in charge of the local Naval Criminal Investigative Service office, said Wednesday his investigators haven't found evidence of any formal complaint made by Makdessi either to her command or to a law-enforcement agency.
Bailey's investigators are working with city detectives on the case.
``We are aggressively pursuing all available and logical leads that could have any impact on establishing the facts of what has happened and why it happened,'' Bailey said.
KEYWORDS: MURDER STABBING INVESTIGATION
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