THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 13, 1994 TAG: 9412130302
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: MATHEWS LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
The search for a Mathews County man wanted in the slaying of a teenage girl has shifted to Mexico, where authorities believe he is hiding after riding trains south from Ohio.
John Henry VanFleet, 21, has been a fugitive since Oct. 11, when he allegedly fired into a group of Middlesex County youths, killing 15-year-old Jamie L. Thomas.
``The last call I got said he was in Mexico City,'' Mathews Sheriff Kenneth H. Jordan said Monday.
Jordan said police have been able to track VanFleet's movements since a few days after the slaying, when he split off from an alleged accomplice, Gary Allen Kammeter Jr., in Ohio.
Kammeter, 19, of Deltaville, and VanFleet drove to Ohio after the shooting and went to Kammeter's father's home in Proctorville, police said.
Kammeter turned himself in to Ohio police and has been returned to Middlesex, where he is in jail on charges of murder and attempted murder.
VanFleet left the Kammeter home on foot before police arrived.
A third suspect, a 17-year-old Mathews juvenile, also is in jail on murder and attempted murder charges.
Police believe the three were riding in a car when they approached a group of five or six people at a subdivision playground in Middlesex.
Police said VanFleet got out of the car and started shooting at close range, killing the Thomas girl and wounding two men.
Jordan said the FBI has been called in on the case. He said police reports indicate that VanFleet has been in Mexico for about three weeks.
KEYWORDS: FUGITIVE by CNB