ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 28, 1996 TAG: 9611290013
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: HOLIDAY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
Melissa Dyal was 18 when she was first charmed by Chad LaRue - the man who has been charged with murder in her death.
"She was working at the Waffle House, and he just sweet-talked her into going out with him even though everyone told her not to," said Dyal's mother, Roberta Cole.
Cole, who spoke from her home in Tampa, Fla., said even though her daughter talked about problems with the relationship, she stayed with LaRue, even following him from Tampa to Radford several months ago.
Early Sunday morning, Dyal died from a shotgun wound to the head.
LaRue, her boyfriend of three years, has been charged with first-degree murder. Police said LaRue, 26, had been out all night and is accused of shooting Dyal when he came home to the apartment they shared at about 5:30 a.m.
The shooting is the first homicide of this decade in Radford.
Cole said she had been married to an abusive husband when Dyal was young. When LaRue first dated Dyal, he was good to her, Cole said. But soon after they moved in together, the two began to fight.
Dyal told her mother LaRue never hit her, Cole said, but she said he was verbally abusive and had punched holes into some walls.
Dyal would leave him, Cole said, but always return.
"She felt he was her, I guess, soul mate, no matter how hard things got," Cole said. "That's where she wanted to be was with him."
About a year ago, LaRue moved to Radford to work in construction with his brother, and Dyal soon followed. She got a job at the Norwood Street Hardee's Restaurant, and they moved into an apartment nearby. But she soon became depressed.
"She wanted to go see a therapist, but he said it was all in her head," Cole said.
In the past two weeks, Dyal lost her job at Hardee's and the arguments worsened. Cole said the two planned to visit Tampa for Christmas and see LaRue's young son from a previous relationship.
"She had mentioned to me that they had been arguing and if it didn't get better she wasn't going to go back," Cole said. She doesn't know if her daughter told LaRue of her plans.
LaRue is being held under $35,000 bond in the Radford City Jail, and will be arraigned Monday. Cole said her daughter's body will be flown to Tampa for burial.
"We were like best friends - she would call me all the time," she said. "She just had such a big heart."
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB