THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 12, 1996 TAG: 9601120494
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Detectives walked into a Norfolk vocational education class Thursday, arrested a student celebrating his 18th birthday, and charged him with rape and murder in the Aug. 8 strangulation of a teenage girl.
The arrest concluded a complicated five-month investigation into the death of 17-year-old Amber Marie Zajac. DNA testing ruled out one suspect but pinpointed another.
The suspect implicated by tests in the rape, Kevin Painter, was picked up at Norfolk Technical Vocational Center a day after Detective Alan Ball received the lab results. Genetic codes culled from a blood sample taken from Painter in late August matched evidence collected from Amber's body, police said.
``Elation,'' was the reaction of the victim's father, Joe Zajac. ``We knew it was close to happening and we have been on (the) edge of our seats for a day or so waiting for them to find him and pick him up. It's the end of one part of the nightmare and the beginning of another, the trial.''
In November, Joe Zajac started a self-defense scholarship in his daughter's name. Funded by donations, several neighborhood girls are studying martial arts and self-defense at a tae kwon do studio near the Zajac home.
Although Painter is now legally an adult, he was arrested and charged on a juvenile petition because he was 17 when Amber was slain. A juvenile petition is the equivalent of an adult arrest warrant.
At the time of Amber's death, Painter worked at a steak-house restaurant and lived in Virginia Beach not far from where she was last seen. He recently moved to Norfolk, records show.
Because he was charged as a juvenile, police did not release his name. The Virginian-Pilot obtained Painter's name through Circuit Court records.
He was charged with first-degree murder and rape. Police spokesman Lou Thurston could not say why Painter wasn't charged with capital murder, a more serious charge that carries the death penalty. Capital murder is often the charge levied when a suspect kills a victim while committing another felony, like rape or robbery.
Thurston referred questions about the charges to the commonwealth's attorney's office. Commonwealth's Attorney Bob Humphreys did not return a message left at his office.
Painter is the second person arrested in connection with Amber's slaying. The first was Kenneth N. Pallet, a resident of the Derby Run Trailer Park, where Amber was last seen, on Aug. 8. Pallett was charged that day with killing the teen.
Police said Pallett rambled through a convoluted series of stories that ended with his admission that he was a lookout while another person raped Amber, according to search warrant affidavits.
Pallett was jailed until genetic tests showed he wasn't the rapist. He was released Oct. 13. Prosecutors may reinstate the same or lesser charges against him later if more evidence develops, police said.
Painter's name also surfaced early in the investigation, court records show. Detectives interviewed two people who told them Painter was with Amber the night she died. When questioned by police, Painter said he only walked Amber to the entrance of the trailer park that night and then went home, records show. Detectives who checked a time card where Painter worked found it didn't match the time he told them he left his job and went home, records show.
When asked by detectives to give a blood and hair sample, Painter refused, records show. Ball, the detective, then got a warrant forcing Painter to provide the samples.
The blood sample was sent for testing. Ball received the results Wednesday and found Painter Thursday.
Police said Painter knew the slain teen, but it isn't clear if Amber knew Painter.
Amber was walking home from a friend's home Aug. 8 and apparently used a wooded shortcut that separates the Derby Run Trailer Park from her Redwing neighborhood. When she failed to arrive home, her father and his girlfriend went looking for her. They found her body.
Although Painter is charged as a juvenile, authorities said they will likely ask that he be tried as an adult.
Painter is being held without bond in the city jail. His first court appearance is scheduled for today. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
The body of Amber Marie Zajac, 17, was found by her father, who went
looking for her when she failed to arrive home.
KEYWORDS: MURDER RAPE STRANGULATION ARREST by CNB