Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 21, 1990 TAG: 9006210465
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B6 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium
Jose Luis Vanegas, 29, of Rock Hill, S.C., was arrested about 6:15 p.m. Wednesday at the Norfolk Naval Station. He was taken to Portsmouth police headquarters and charged with abduction.
Early this morning Vanegas was charged with murder in Norfolk in connection with the death of Jennifer Melissa Ball, 14. Her body was found about 9:15 p.m. Wednesday in tall grass near the Campostella Bridge in Norfolk, Portsmouth police said.
Several law-enforcement officials who requested anonymity told The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star newspapers of Norfolk that the body was found because of statements Vanegas gave authorities.
"We don't have any idea why someone would do something like this to someone in our daughter's condition," Stephen Ball, the girl's father, had said earlier Wednesday. "She can't feed herself, she can't talk and she's never hurt anyone."
The girl was kidnapped about 7:50 p.m. Tuesday from her bed at Holiday House, a privately run, non-profit facility in Portsmouth for handicapped children.
Vanegas was "a volunteer worker at the Holiday House . . . who was described by employees as a conscientious worker who was well liked by the children," said Joseph R. Wolfinger, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Norfolk office.
Wolfinger's statement said the FBI got involved because of the belief that Vanegas planned to leave the state after allegedly abducting Jennifer.
Authorities believe Vanegas originally came to Holiday House with a group of sailors from the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea who made a visit a few years ago "as a gesture of good will," Portsmouth police Detective Karl Morrisette said.
Vanegas had come back by himself in the last year to visit the home's 28 residents, and had volunteered to help staff members on trips in recent weeks to Busch Gardens and the Norfolk Botanical Gardens, Morrisette said.
Staff members told investigators they had not seen Vanegas in two weeks until he showed up about Tuesday night and "told them . . . he was there to say goodbye," Morrisette said.
After bidding his farewell and apparently leaving the premises, a man fitting Vanegas' description was seen by a staff member "walking across the grass toward his car carrying what looked like a person covered by a white sheet," Morrisette said.
A check was made, and the 5-foot-10, 70-pound Jennifer was discovered missing.
Morrisette said Jennifer was afflicted with cerebral palsy, scoliosis and "a severe seizure disorder." He said she was prescribed six different types of medication daily, including medicine to control her seizures. Without her twice-daily seizure medication, authorities said, she was in danger of dying.
After her disappearance, police in Virginia and neighboring states were put on the alert for a light blue car they said the suspect was driving.
Officials at Holiday House, where Jennifer became a resident in 1986, refused to comment on the case.
by CNB