THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 22, 1995 TAG: 9508220271
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
The body of a Virginia Beach woman reported missing a week ago was found buried in woods behind a Greenbrier-area warehouse Monday morning, and police have charged her husband with murder.
A police investigator said Eric D. Ferguson, 30, confessed to killing his estranged wife and led detectives to the dead-end of Woodlake Drive where he had buried her in a 4-foot-deep grave. Ferguson had been living in a Norfolk apartment since the couple's recent separation.
Police had been searching for 33-year-old Andrea Ferguson since her supervisor reported her missing on Aug. 14. Andrea and Eric Ferguson were both in the Navy.
The Fergusons' 1-year-old daughter, Kathleen, was found alone but unharmed in a crib in the family's Ocean Lakes home in Virginia Beach. The child may have been neglected for two days.
Last week, detectives using a chemical process found invisible traces of blood in Andrea Ferguson's home and car, according to a search-warrant affidavit filed Monday. They also found ``that someone made attempts to clean the blood up,'' according to the affidavit.
A carpet-cleaning machine and cleaning fluid were also found in the house, the affidavit shows.
Last week, detectives questioned Eric Ferguson, a first-class petty officer stationed aboard the amphibious assault ship Guam. He said he didn't know what had happened to his wife, but he said ``she did not have much of a social life,'' according to the affidavit.
The same report shows that a neighbor saw Andrea Ferguson cutting grass at her home on Saturday, Aug. 12. But when she didn't show up for work Monday, her supervisor went to her Haviland Drive home.
The supervisor, identified in court papers as Joseph M. Burrell, found the Fergusons' daughter alone in the house and an Aug. 13 newspaper untouched on the driveway. Burrell told police he was a friend of Andrea's and had a key to her house.
In the affidavit, Eric Ferguson told a social-services worker - who called him about his unattended baby - that he had left his wife's home just before midnight Aug. 12. That made him the last person to see her alive, police said.
Detectives then pressed Eric Ferguson, and he buckled, police said. Police did not say how Andrea Ferguson died.
Ferguson led Virginia Beach detectives to a thickly wooded area behind a cocoa-bean storage building at the end of Woodlake Drive at dawn Monday. The remote area is at the end of an industrial complex of large warehouses.
Police have charged Ferguson, a 10-year Navy veteran, with first-degree murder and child neglect. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by STEVE EARLEY, Staff
The body of Andrea Ferguson, 33, was found Monday morning in this
shallow grave off Woodlake Drive.
Photos
Eric D. Ferguson
Andrea Ferguson
KEYWORDS: MURDER CHILD ABUSE by CNB