Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 21, 1992 TAG: 9202210354
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DUMFRIES LENGTH: Medium
MAN ADMITTED KILLING, GIRL SAYS
An 8-year-old Dumfries girl has told police that a man who attacked her admitted killing another girl, court documents show.Fairfax County and Prince William police searched the Triangle home of Edward Stewart, 30, who's accused of abducting and sexually assaulting the 8-year-old Sunday evening.
Authorities said they were looking for evidence in the death of another girl, 10-year-old Rosie Gordon of Fairfax, nearly three years ago.
Stewart was arrested Sunday night after the 8-year-old was snatched from the parking lot of her apartment complex while she was taking out the trash.
The girl was sodomized and her attacker attempted to rape her before releasing her at a convenience store on U.S. 1 near the apartments.
Stewart was being held in the Prince William-Manassas regional jail without bond on charges of abduction with intent to defile, attempted rape, forcible sodomy and aggravated sexual assault.
Police searched Stewart's home seeking any items that might link him to other abductions, attempted abductions, sexual assaults or murders, according to Prince William court records and Sgt. Terrence Casey of the Prince William police juvenile bureau.
The Dumfries girl told police that her attacker threatened to kill her if she told anyone about the crime and that he "had done this to another girl and he had to kill her as she told someone," according to an affidavit filed Wednesday in Prince William Circuit Court.
Casey said police were checking the veracity of the girl's statement. "We're looking at the potential that he could have been involved" in other cases, he said.
The attacker's comments to the girl provide Stewart's only link to the Gordon case, said Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert.
Rosie Gordon disappeared July 2, 1989, and was found dead two days later near her Lake Braddock home.
In 1989, Fairfax police named Randall Breer, formerly of Dale City, as the prime suspect in the Gordon case but brought no charges against him.
Breer is in prison serving sentences for sexual assault and abduction of girls in Loudoun and Arlington counties and Alexandria.
Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Horan Jr. said he does not believe Breer is a prime suspect in the Gordon case.
Bill Coulter, spokesman for Fairfax police, said the department will review any evidence Prince William police share.
A preliminary hearing for Stewart is scheduled March 26.