
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 2, 1990                   TAG: 9004100747
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ARSON PROBED IN FIRE FATAL TO WOMAN, GIRL, 4

Murder and arson are suspected in a Sunday morning house fire that claimed the lives of a mother and daughter in the Konnarock area of Washington County.

Two bodies were found in the house, which burned to the ground around 12:30 a.m. The victims tentatively have been identified as Sherry Hamm Stamper, 31, and 4-year-old Savannah Stamper, said Washington County Sheriff John McCall.

The bodies have been sent to Roanoke for examination and identification.

Investigators are calling the fire suspicious because of a quarrel between Stamper's husband, Danny, and a neighbor earlier Saturday night, McCall said.

Neither Danny Stamper nor the couple's son, whose name was unavailable, was at home when the fire occured.

"We are treating it as suspect arson and murder until we find out differently...We're working on talking to witnesses and people who were there earlier last night. We have a couple of suspects but no arrests have been made," McCall said.

He said investigators were checking samples of wood and the soil "to see if anything was put on it. The husband said there were some problems with the electrical system in the past, so we're checking that out, too."

by CNB