Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 11, 1993 TAG: 9301110070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
HALF OF ROANOKE KILLINGS COMMITTED WITH GUNS
Last year was the first in more than a decade that Roanoke's homicide count flirted with single digits.Of the 10 people killed in Roanoke last year, five were shot to death. Three of those were people who ventured into the city's open-air crack markets in search of a quick high.
"The victims, as we have seen from the past year, are coming into the city bent on buying drugs, and they're putting themselves in extremely dangerous situations," said Roanoke Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell.
Here is a list of the casualties:
On the morning of Jan. 13, the beaten body of Paul R. Meador, 64, was found on Shenandoah Avenue. Police believe he was in a nearby nightclub shortly before his death. There have been no arrests.
After driving from his Christiansburg home to buy some crack, 20-year-old Terry Wayne Anderson was shot as his pickup truck idled on Lafayette Boulevard the evening of March 21. Paul Saunders, who was 15 at the time, is serving 12 years for second-degree murder.
Jeffrey Graybill, a homeless man, told police he may have choked a fellow vagrant to death because the man's whiskey left a bad taste in his mouth. Graybill is serving a 30-year sentence for the first-degree murder of Ervin Henry Lawrence, 64.
An argument between two brothers left one dead of a gunshot wound in their Tazewell Avenue home. Claiming self-defense, 29-year-old Josh Olichwier was acquitted in the death of his brother, Vincent.
On the night of April 30, a volley of gunfire killed William Hartman in the parking lot of a shopping center, following a car chase with his accused killer. Edwin C. Turner, 38, has filed notice of an insanity plea and is awaiting trial.
George F. Elliott, 31, was shot after he drove his van into the Lansdowne housing project in search of crack cocaine on April 13. Reginald Lee Noel, 22, is scheduled to go on trial for that slaying Jan. 19.
Leon Boyd, 39, was stabbed to death July 3, after his ex-roommate kicked in the door to his Hunt Avenue apartment. Paul Saunders, a 58-year-old man who is not related to the other Paul Saunders charged with murder, is serving 20 years in prison.
In what was first believed to be a fatal automobile accident, a 70-year-old man was found dead in a burning car. Cousins Gary and Lewis Draper face charges of robbing and strangling Douglass Webb the night of Sept. 3.
On Nov. 8, Steve Wikle became the third person in 1992 to be killed while trying to buy drugs. It happened like the other two; Wikle was shot while seated in his car and haggling over the price. This one happened on Melrose Avenue, and 17-year-old Robert Ingram faces a murder charge.
Two days before Christmas, Homer Hudson's body was found lying on Salem Avenue. An initial investigation shows another man may have stabbed him in self-defense, although that may be a question for a grand jury to decide.
As is almost always the case, the total number of killings in surrounding localities was less than those in Roanoke. Salem had a double-murder and suicide, and Botetourt County had a murder-suicide. There was one slaying in Vinton last year, and one in Roanoke County.
Keywords:
ROMUR