ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, July 11, 1996                TAG: 9607110084
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: DOUGLAS, MICH. 
SOURCE: Associated Press 

WOMAN DIED NEAR `BRUSSELS SPROUTS' SITE OF WOMAN'S DEATH STILL UNKNOWN

Authorities investigating the death of the wife of a Virginia college president are still trying to determine exactly where she was killed, the Allegan County sheriff said Wednesday.

John Upton told investigators last week that Kathleen Upton's death occurred by the brussels sprouts, but there are no such plants on the grounds of their Lake Michigan cottage, Sheriff David Haverdink said.

``We don't know if 15, 20, 30 years ago, there may have been a garden. What did he mean by that comment?'' Haverdink said. ``We still believe it happened very near or in the house but we don't know that.''

Upton, 64, president of Rappahannock Community College, is charged with murdering Kathleen Upton, 63, who was bludgeoned, stabbed and suffocated last week.

He admitted killing his wife in a call to 911 about 4:30 a.m. on July 2, prosecutor Fred Anderson has said. But her death could have occurred up to eight hours earlier.

Haverdink said there's no evidence that Upton transported the body back to the cottage by car.

Upton is being held in jail without bond, although attorney Frank Stanley hopes to make another pitch for bail Friday.

LENGTH: Short :   38 lines