Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 5, 1994 TAG: 9410050080
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG - LENGTH: Medium
The five member panel returned an indictment against Turpin charging him with the second-degree murder of Mickell Allen Turpin.
Mickell Turpin, 30, died after being stabbed with a hunting knife at Gordon Turpin's home.
According to testimony at an August preliminary hearing, Mickell Turpin and his girlfriend arrived late April 8 for a cookout and apparently stumbled into a domestic dispute between his brother and sister-in-law.
Beth Patsel testified she and Mickell Turpin planned to leave the gathering after only a few minutes because they could tell his brother had been drinking. The situation deteriorated when Gordon Turpin began arguing with his wife, Patsel testified, and started waving a hunting knife. Just after she left the room to run for help, the knife was plunged deep into her boyfriend's chest, she said.
Gordon Turpin, 28, told a deputy sheriff he was merely flashing the knife when his brother turned around quickly and walked into it.
Others indicted by the grand jury Monday included:
Jack E. Atkinson Jr., 52, of Route 1, Radford, on three indictments charging him with two counts of obtaining money with intent to defraud and one count of uttering a check with intent to defraud.
Atkinson is accused of making a $36,000 check payable to Lee Shu American Corp. on the account of Wholesale Brokers on Feb. 1, knowing there was not enough money in the account to cover the check.
Atkinson also is charged with obtaining $28,000 from the Lee Shu corporation with intent to defraud on Jan. 11 and another $25,000 on Jan. 27.
The charges revolve around allegations that Atkinson, a heavy equipment dealer, took money as payment for equipment he never delivered, Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Keith said.
William Edwin Coleman, 34, 900 block of Radford Road, Christiansburg. Coleman is charged with embezzling more than $200 in June from the RC Theatres at New River Valley Mall where he was employed.
Paula Nadine Durham, 23, 400 block of Stone Street, Christiansburg. Durham is accused of embezzling more than $200 in clothing and other merchandise from Kmart between November 1993 and April 2. She was employed at the store.
by CNB