Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 17, 1993 TAG: 9307170067
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LEWISBURG, W.VA. LENGTH: Short
Jacob Beard, 47, was convicted last month in the June 25, 1980 shootings of Nancy Santomero, 19, of Huntington, N.Y., and Vicki Durian, 26, of Wellman, Iowa.
Beard, who was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, will not be eligible for parole, officials said.
The two were traveling to a gathering of the Rainbow Family, a loosely knit counterculture group, when they were shot to death near Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park, police said.
Beard had remained free on $100,000 after his June 4 conviction.
He was acquitted on a charge of conspiracy to abduct with intent to defile.
Beard was sentenced by Greenbrier County Circuit Judge Charles Lobban. The trial was moved from Pocahontas County because of extensive publicity.
About 33 people testified in Beard's three-week trial, with several placing Beard and his red pickup at the scene of the shootings.
Four others have been charged in the slayings.
William McCoy, 37, of Hillsboro, Richard Fowler, 41, of Gordonsville, Va., and Arnold Cutlip, 55, of Lobelia have yet to stand trial.
Gerald L. Brown, 51, of Droop was indicted in January, but died a month later after choking on food.
Beard was prosecuted first because he was the trigger man, said special prosecutor Walt Weiford.
by CNB