THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 24, 1996 TAG: 9607240361
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 32 lines
Police arrested a Newport News man Tuesday and charged him with killing an Oceanfront hotel resident three years ago during a botched drug robbery.
Police said Damon A. Anderson, now 25, was one of two men who fled a fifth-floor hotel room after a violent confrontation with at least two men.
A motel clerk who had gone to investigate the noise called police.
When police arrived at Murphy's Emerald Isle Motor Apartments, they found 34-year-old Michael Abbess dead and another man hurt. Abbess was living in the hotel at the time.
Norfolk police arrested one of the suspects shortly after the attack, but investigators didn't learn the identity of the second suspect until recently, Virginia Beach police spokesman Lou Thurston said. He declined to say what led police to Anderson.
Thurston said investigators presented their case to the grand jury on July 1, and an indictment was issued for Anderson, who lives in the 1100 block of 27th Street in Newport News.
He was charged with murder, abduction, robbery and using a gun in a crime. With the help of Newport News police, Anderson was arrested and taken to the Virginia Beach jail, where he was being held without bail. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Damon A. Anderson, 25, of Newport News is charged with murder,
abduction and robbery.
KEYWORDS: MURDER ARREST ROBBERY SHOOTING HOTEL by CNB