THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 17, 1995 TAG: 9503170555
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 110 lines
Rebecca Ganz thought a bad dream awoke her husband from a sound sleep early Thursday, but it wasn't a nightmare. It was worse.
It was real.
Ganz told a police dispatcher that as she lay terrified in her bed, the couple's 19-year-old son repeatedly slashed her husband with a large kitchen knife and then thrust the blade into her.
Her panicked voice on a 911 tape released Thursday provided a chilling account of the city's third homicide of the year.
``I thought my husband was having a bad dream, and then all of a sudden I looked up and he's in there stabbing him,'' she said. ``I didn't know what the heck was going on. And I woke up and he started stabbing me.''
Her husband, 45-year-old David K. Ganz, struggled to the kitchen, where he collapsed and died.
Rebecca Ganz ran from the house to a neighbor's porch, trailing blood across John Hancock Drive. She banged on her neighbor's front door and screamed that her son was going crazy. The neighbor called police.
Then Rebecca ran back to her home, leaving a second trail of blood, and also called police.
The first officer to arrive found the son, John D. Ganz, smeared with blood and standing in the street not far from the house, police said.
John Ganz told the officer ``he had just killed his parents,'' according to a search-warrant affidavit.
At the two-story home, rescue workers found David Ganz dead and his 46-year-old wife bleeding badly. She underwent surgery Thursday at Virginia Beach General Hospital, where she is listed in serious condition.
Police on Thursday were still trying to learn what triggered the attack. Because of the way the son talked and acted, police said, detectives believe he was under the influence of drugs at the time of the attack. A small amount of suspected drugs was found in the teen's room, police said.
Police were told the couple had recently argued with the son.
The attack happened early Thursday - a few minutes after midnight - in the quiet subdivision just off Lynnhaven Parkway.
The city's communications center received a 911 call at 12:08 a.m., but the caller either hung up or was forced to disconnect. Two minutes later, the neighbor dialed 911 as Rebecca Ganz banged on the door.
Then at 12:12, after staggering back into her home, Rebecca dialed the phone.
``Oh, please, uh, 3073 John Hancock Drive,'' she said to the dispatcher. ``Our son stabbed us, we're bleeding, my husband is on the kitchen floor dying.''
The son was arrested and charged with his father's murder and with wounding his mother. He is being held without bond in the city jail. ILLUSTRATION: John D. Ganz, 19, told an arriving officer that ``he had just
killed his parents.''
THE MOTHER'S FRANTIC CALL TO POLICE
12:12 a.m.
POLICE DISPATCHER: ``Virginia Beach police, fire and rescue?''
REBECCA GANZ: ``Oh, please, uh, 3073 John Hancock Drive. Our son
stabbed us, we're bleeding, my husband is on the kitchen floor
dying.''
DISPATCHER: ``OK. I want you to stay on the phone with me. OK?''
GANZ: ``Please help us.''
DISPATCHER: ``Ma'am, I've got them on the way. Where is your
son?''
GANZ: ``I don't know. He ran out the door.''
DISPATCHER: ``OK. What is his name?''
GANZ: ``John Ganz. I'm bleeding like crazy, too.''
DISPATCHER: ``Where are you stabbed?''
GANZ: ``Downstairs in the den, in the Carriage Hill area.''
DISPATCHER: ``OK. Thirty seventy-three John Hancock?''
GANZ: ``Uh huh. Oh, please.''
DISPATCHER: ``OK, I want you to stay and talk with me until I get
people there to help you, OK?...How old is your son?''
GANZ: ``Oh, he's, uh, 19. We were both dead asleep. Oh, I'm
getting a little weak.''
DISPATCHER: ``Are you sitting down?''
GANZ: ``No, I'm standing.''
DISPATCHER: ``I want you to sit down. In case you pass out, I
don't want you to get hurt OK? How tall is your son?''
GANZ: ``He's about six, he's about, almost six foot.''
DISPATCHER: ``OK, do you know what he was wearing?''
GANZ: ``I don't have any idea. I thought my husband was having a
bad dream and then all of a sudden I looked up and he's in there
stabbing him. (Unintelligible). I didn't know what the heck was
going on. And I woke up and he started stabbing me.''
PHONE CALL EXCERPTS
12:10 a.m.
POLICE DISPATCHER: ``Virginia Beach police, fire and rescue.''
NEIGHBOR: ``Yes, I need a police car sent to, um, to my
neighbor's house. She's banging at my door.''
DISPATCHER: ``OK. What's your address?''
NEIGHBOR: ``3072 . . . ''
DISPATCHER: ``Is that John Hancock?''
NEIGHBOR: ``Yes.''
DISPATCHER: ``OK. What's the problem. I've got an officer
responding.''
NEIGHBOR: ``Her son is, um, she is banging on my door screaming
that he's going crazy, he's losing it.''
DISPATCHER: ``OK. Do you know if he tried to harm her?''
NEIGHBOR: ``I don't know. I don't know. We were sleeping.''
DISPATCHER: ``OK. Thank you.''
KEYWORDS: ARREST STABBING MURDER DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INJURIES by CNB