THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 19, 1996 TAG: 9609190346
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 65 lines
For 14 years, Richard Whittle hid his dark secret. He hid it from his wife and daughter. He hid it from his co-workers. He seemed the perfect husband, the perfect employee, the perfect father.
Then, in June, two federal investigators showed up at his work in Burbank, Calif. They knew what his secret was. And they had the evidence to back it up.
In a tearful confession, Whittle finally gave up the secret he had carried for so long, telling investigators in graphic detail what happened on the Norfolk Naval Base in dense fog off Willoughby Bay on March 25, 1982. That was the day Pamela Ann Kimbrue, 21, was drowned in her car, a seatbelt wrapped around her neck.
On Wednesday, Whittle pleaded guilty in federal court to murder and rape. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison for the murder.
Wiping his eyes, his voice breaking several times, Whittle told the judge he had committed the crime. Holding a bright red Bible, Whittle, 38, listened as prosecutor Laura Everhart recounted the evidence.
She began with a description of the victim, a ``first-class sailor.''
Kimbrue, 21, had just picked up messages at the communication center next to Willoughby Bay when she was attacked from behind by Whittle, who was wearing a ski mask. Whittle forced her into her car, tied her hands behind her back, raped her and beat her with a Tab soft drink bottle.
During the fight, Kimbrue pulled off the mask and recognized Whittle, who then decided to kill her, court testimony has shown. Whittle wrapped a seatbelt around her neck, then pushed her car into the Bay. It was found by Navy divers the next day.
Whittle became a suspect shortly after the crime, at one point photocopying materials from the investigative file. But he was not arrested until after the case was reopened last year.
Investigators applied new techniques to link Whittle's DNA to semen left during the crime and matched his fingerprint to a print on the glass of the car.
``I couldn't believe what I did,'' he told them in his confession. ``I didn't mean to kill her.'' After a failed attempt to keep the confession out of the trial, Whittle decided to plead guilty.
In addition to the penalty for murder, Whittle faces a maximum of life in prison for the rape. He does not face the death penalty because it was not in effect in 1982. Whittle will be eligible for parole in 10 years, prosecutors said, because of laws in effect when the crime was committed. He will be sentenced Dec. 17.
``Justice has been served,'' Everhart said after Wednesday's hearing. ``Finally.'' Everhart said she planned to call Kimbrue's parents in Michigan to let them know of the guilty plea.
The case is the 13th solved by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service's ``cold-case'' squad, which reopens old murders and applies new technology and investigative techniques.
Whittle, who lived in Palmdale, Calif., worked at Physicians Clinical Laboratory Inc. in Burbank when he was arrested. He was described as a devoted family man with a wife and 9-year-old daughter. One co-worker described him as ``Santa Claus,'' saying he ``literally worships'' his daughter.
Colleagues are still ``in shock,'' co-worker Gina McKimson said Wednesday. McKimson said they knew Whittle planned to plead guilty.
``This is not the Richard I know,'' McKimson said. ``Nobody knows that Richard. It's so bizarre.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Pamela Ann Kimbrue
KEYWORDS: MURDER RAPE CONFESSION GUILTY PLEA U.S. NAVY by CNB