DATE: Monday, August 18, 1997               TAG: 9708180053

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:  105 lines

DETECTIVES SAY HUNCH AND MURDER SUSPECTS' SLIP-UPS LED TO ARRESTS TAPES AND THE INTENDED VICTIM LED POLICE TO MEN CHARGED WITH BEACH MAN'S DEATH.

Homicide Detective John ``J.T.'' Orr surveyed the murder scene and cursed his fortune.

It was before dawn on July 25 and he was standing outside a townhouse on Osprey Street facing a certain stumper. A stone-cold whodunit.

The murder had been swift and simple. An early-morning knock at the front door. A single shot. An unknown assailant or assailants, and an unseen escape.

But a veteran investigator's hunch and the suspects' slip-up brought arrests in the case before the sun went down that day. Last week, detectives agreed to talk about how they charged five people with killing a Sentara Norfolk General Hospital worker in what they believe was a case of mistaken identity.

Investigators said the five attackers had planned a home-invasion robbery of a man known to narcotics detectives as a drug dealer. But when the drug dealer moved out of the Osprey Street townhouse, word didn't reach his enemies.

Instead, Tara Harper and her young daughter were the new residents. On July 25, William McKleny III was visiting them. He walked downstairs to answer the morning knock, not knowing it was probably a distraction. At least one of the five assailants had already broken into the home.

When McKleny got to the front door, he was trapped. One shot to the head, from behind him, ended his life. He was 30.

He never knew who shot him, and the gunmen didn't know McKleny.

That alone would make this a challenging case.

While national statistics show an increasing number of stranger slayings, they are still uncommon in the resort city of 430,000. Most killers here know their victims.

The glaring exception involves drugs. In drug-spawned killings, the relationship between victim and attacker often is nebulous at best. That's what makes them among the hardest homicides to solve. And this murder looked like a drug hit.

``These types of cases are always difficult because there are usually very few leads,'' Orr said. ``I wasn't optimistic.''

But McKleny wasn't a drug dealer. Far from it, in fact. A quick check of his background showed he had a good job at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, where he sterilized surgical equipment.

At Maury High School, McKleny's size earned him the nickname ``Big William.'' He played basketball there, mainly as a second-stringer.

The name of the townhome's previous tenant, however, was familiar to detectives who work undercover narcotics investigations. Orr figured that man was the intended mark.

That theory, however, was small consolation. There was still little to go on.

Just hours into the stalled investigation, Sgt. Tommy Baum, a veteran investigator, took a wild guess: Maybe the suspects got the munchies before the murder.

The sergeant viewed surveillance videotapes from the three closest 7-Elevens. Detectives had a vague description of the gunmen from witnesses who saw a group of three to five men speed away in a dark Ford Taurus. On one surveillance videotape, Baum noticed a group that generally matched the description. Parked outside was a dark Ford Taurus.

``That caught our attention,'' Orr said.

Baum took the tape to headquarters and made still pictures of all the customers who went into those convenience stores around the time of the murder.

Detectives had contacted the townhome's previous resident to ask for his help. He agreed to talk with them near where the crime happened. The investigators showed him the pictures from the convenience-store videotapes and asked him if he knew any of the men.

The man told Detective Al Byrum he didn't recognize anyone.

``But here's the part I don't understand,'' Byrum said. ``Then he told us to go and look around the corner.''

Byrum didn't know it then, but the robbers had driven to the townhouse in two cars. In their panic after the shooting, they left one car behind. Two of the suspects had returned to claim it while police were still collecting clues.

The detectives followed the previous tenant's instructions and walked around the corner. They saw two men. One was wearing what looked to be the same distinctive shirt and hat as a person photographed in one of the 7-Eleven videotapes.

Byrum didn't know if the previous tenant was lying about not recognizing the men. And Orr was also perplexed about the man's behavior. Maybe, Orr thought, the dealer recognized the suspects from the pictures they showed him.

It didn't matter. This was the first break in the case.

Detectives asked 18-year-old Toney D. Griffen and 22-year-old Jerry Norman Jr. to go with them to police headquarters. There, according to court records, the men admitted their involvement in the crime and named their accomplices.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, the case came together. Detectives had the suspects, the motive, the admissions, and evidence that put them near the crime scene.

Police charged these suspects with murder and related felonies:

Griffen, of the 800 block of St. Denis Court.

Norman, of the 2400 block of McCaskey Road in Williamston, N.C.

Armard Rashad Smith, 18, of the 200 block of Harrier St. Smith was out of jail on bail on two separate criminal charges - drunken driving and having a concealed weapon - when the killing happened.

Terrence M. Woolard, 20, of the 5900 block of Beechwalk Drive.

A 17-year-old boy whose name was not released because of his age.

The adults are being held in jail without bail. The 17-year-old is at a secure juvenile facility.

McKleny was buried Aug. 1 at Woodlawn Memorial Park. His family did not wish to talk about the case.

``It simply appears he was in the wrong place at the wrong time,'' Orr said. KEYWORDS: MURDER SHOOTING ARREST

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