Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 11, 1990 TAG: 9005110328
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
John Randall Todd, 24, a Dallas apostle of an Egyptian religion, was sent to Central State Hospital in Petersburg for a 90-day evaluation following a committal hearing before General District Court Judge Joseph Hess.
Todd was transported to the hospital about 4 p.m. by a Rockbridge County sheriff's deputy.
Lt. John Higgins, chief correctional officer at the Rockbridge County Jail, said Todd started talking about killing himself Thursday morning.
Police said he attempted to hang himself about 10:15 a.m. after returning to his cell from an evaluation by a mental health worker. Todd had tied the shoelaces through an air vent in his cell, but the shoelaces pulled loose from the force of his weight, and he was unhurt.
"He said he had to die today," Higgins reported him saying. "He said he had to go by a knife blade or some sort of blade to his heart."
Because he had no knife in jail, Higgins said, Todd said it would be acceptable to his religion to hang himself with shoelaces.
"He said his god would forgive him in his journey," Higgins said.
Todd told authorities he set fire to Vesuvius Baptist Church and Mount Carmel Presbyterian Church in Steeles Tavern as a sacrifice to the ancient Egyptian god Osiris.
He was arrested after Botetourt County authorities caught him inside Camp Bethel Church of the Brethren on Virginia 640.
He told police that his death would allow him to make a 2,000-mile round trip to the sun required by his religion.
Ancient Egyptians believed Osiris was the chief god of the underworld and prince of the dead. He ruled the underworld of the tomb, which was populated by the souls of the dead.
The ancient Egyptians believed that when they die, they become Osiris.
Todd also is wanted by authorities in Dallas in a fire last Friday that caused about $10,000 damage to the funeral home where he had worked for three months.
Todd, a native of Tyler, Texas, was convicted of burglary in Collin County, Texas, in December 1987 and was placed on supervised probation for 10 years, said Devonia Sheaffer, unit supervisor with the Collin County Supervision and Corrections Department. Associated Press provided some information for this story.
by CNB