THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 23, 1996 TAG: 9608230055
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: 53 lines
A police tactical squad surrounded the King James Hotel Thursday afternoon and arrested the second of two men suspected of abducting and murdering a Langley airman last Saturday.
William Jones was taken into custody after 35 officers closed in on the hotel about 4 p.m. He was taken to the York County Jail by York County Sheriff's Department deputies.
The incident began about 2:45 p.m., when police learned that Johnson might be in a room at the hotel, at 79th Street and Jefferson Avenue.
Police say Jones was one of two men filmed by an ATM security camera Saturday in a pickup with Eric Michael Nesbitt. In the photograph, Nesbitt is seen withdrawing money from the ATM, apparently on orders from the two men.
A motorist found the body of Nesbitt, an airman 1st class transportation specialist stationed at Langley Air Force Base, in a remote area west of Yorktown on Saturday. Nesbitt had been shot eight times in the arms, stomach and back with a small-caliber, semiautomatic pistol.
Darryl R. Adkins, 18, of the first block of Sacramento Drive in Hampton was arrested Wednesday and confessed to his role in Nesbitt's death, according to police. They say he told them Nesbitt was chosen randomly for robbery.
Adkins was charged with murder, robbery, abduction and a weapons violation. He is being held in the York County Jail.
Police said Adkins' arrest came as an indirect result of tipsters after the ATM photograph was circulated by media outlets.
Nesbitt, of Gilbertsville, N.Y., left his part-time job at an auto parts store late Friday and was to have met his best friend at the base that night. He never showed up.
Investigators found that Nesbitt had made a $60 withdrawal from his Crestar Bank account just before midnight Friday. Records showed he made another withdrawal of $200 about 20 minutes later.
When police checked security photographs, they found a picture of Nesbitt sitting in his truck between two men identified by police as Jones and Adkins.
The picture was widely circulated by local media in an effort to find the suspects.
Nesbitt's truck was found Wednesday behind the King James Hotel.
Police say Adkins told them he and Jones picked up Nesbitt as he came out of a 7-Eleven store on Armistead Avenue near Butler Road. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
ABOUT THE CASE
A motorist found the body of Eric Michael Nesbitt, an airman 1st
class transportation specialist stationed at Langley Air Force Base,
in a remote area west of Yorktown on Saturday. Nesbitt had been shot
eight times in the arms, stomach and back with a small-caliber,
semiautomatic pistol.
KEYWORDS: MURDER SHOOTING ROBBERY ATM by CNB