THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 30, 1997 TAG: 9701300348
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 64 lines
The attorney for Richard Ethan Hollingsworth, charged with three others in the shooting death of a Kellam High School soccer star, will ask a Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court judge today to grant the young man bond.
Hollingsworth is accused of taking part in last weekend's fatal shooting of Tim Wheaton, whose life was celebrated Wednesday at a funeral Mass at Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church.
``We're going to hear a little of what the commonwealth has and that might give us some room to work,'' said Moody E. Stallings Jr., who is defending Hollingsworth. ``I think my boy was just caught up in this.''
Hollingsworth, 18, James W. Waters Jr., 19, Monica Oliver, 17, and Stephanie Grace Wall, 17, are charged with murder. Waters, who has denied involvement, is the only defendant facing an additional charge of using a firearm to commit a crime.
All are being held without bond in the Virginia Beach City Jail.
Across town Wednesday, in a packed church, hundreds of Wheaton's friends, classmates and his family said goodbye to a boy many had come to admire for his integrity, promise and skill as a soccer star.
Reading from a questionnaire Wheaton once filled out, his Kellam High School soccer coach said the young man once wanted to become a police officer. Soccer teammates spoke tearfully of their friend.
Meanwhile, at the home of Cindy and George Oliver, a fuller picture began to emerge of Monica Oliver and her relationship to the other defendants.
Cindy Oliver, the girl's mother, said it was impossible to describe her shock and horror when the telephone rang Sunday evening. On the line was Virginia Beach Police homicide sergeant Tommy Baum, who told her that her oldest daughter had been charged with murder.
``I just went into shock,'' Oliver said. ``It's been so rough. The only way I can keep up is to keep my mind focused on other things. I have another daughter and she has homework that she needs help with. This has been very overwhelming, very shocking.''
Worse still, Oliver said, was knowing her daughter had never been in trouble before and that Wall and Hollingsworth were close friends of her daughter.
``They had been to my house on several occasions,'' Oliver said. ``They were all very nice and polite, very well mannered. The Hollingsworth boy is the kind of son you would like to have. He was a good kid, he really is, and he was never in any trouble before.''
She had never seen Waters, adding that he was an acquaintance of Hollingsworth's.
Oliver said she is still confused about what happened because she has not had a chance to talk to her daughter at length. During a brief discussion, Monica Oliver told her mother the shooting was sudden and unexpected.
``She told me that she begged the boy not to shoot,'' Cindy Oliver said. ``When the boy was shot, Monica told me she started crying. She didn't even know who he was at first. But later when she found out, she did know who he was.''
She said her daughter was driving the Dodge Shadow, which belonged to Hollingsworth, and that at first they did not want to leave the scene. She said her daughter, Wall and Hollingsworth panicked when Wheaton fell.
``She said, `The first thing I wanted to do was get out and help the boy.'
The four were later arrested in Long Beach, N.C., where a relative of Hollingsworth had a summer beach cottage.
KEYWORDS: MURDER JUVENILE SHOOTING