THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 11, 1997 TAG: 9701110265
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: 104 lines
Police have reopened the case of a woman who died during a 1994 car accident after receiving a letter from a guilt-ridden person who believes he and his friends caused her to crash her minivan by firing a gun and frightening her.
``I decided to write this letter because I can not take the guilt anymore,'' the anonymous author wrote in a letter mailed to police this week. A copy of the typewritten, unsigned letter also was sent to The Virginian-Pilot.
The woman, 54-year-old Mary Speller Wallace of Seaboard Avenue in Chesapeake, died of a massive heart attack just before she drove off High Street and crashed into a building in late July 1994.
``Her heart literally exploded,'' recalled her son-in-law, William Brown, a Chesapeake firefighter who talked to the doctor who tried to revive Wallace the night she died.
Wallace, a nurse at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk who had been delivering Meals On Wheels that day, was on the way to pick up her son, who worked in Portsmouth, when the accident occurred, her son-in-law said.
Wallace's family members learned that gunplay may have led to her death when contacted by a reporter Friday. Lenora Diane Crawford, Wallace's daughter, said she and her family had no idea that a shooting might have been the cause of Wallace's death.
Crawford, however, said she and her family were always suspicious that Wallace had such a serious heart attack at such a young age, even though she had suffered a heart attack several months earlier.
``This is just unexplainable,'' Crawford said, adding that her mother would have celebrated her 57th birthday on Sunday. ``It's just very strange. Anybody who would do something like that must be very troubled.''
In the three-paragraph letter, dated Jan. 3, the writer describes an incident that, he says, occurred July 24, 1994. That night, he says, his friends fired shots from their car ``to have some fun'' with a female motorist, who was so frightened she wrecked her van. ``We were not going to hurt her, just have some fun,'' the writer said.
He said he later learned the woman died in the wreck. He wrote the letter to let her family know what happened.
He even described the color of the van, white and brown, and the block in which the accident occurred, the 1000 block of High Street. He said he was moved to write the letter when his mother died recently.
``I just lost my mom and, for a week, I did not know how she died,'' the letter says. ``Please tell her family how she died. I know how they must feel.''
The copy of the letter sent to the newspaper had no return address and bore a ``Hampton Roads'' postmark.
According to an incident report filed by Portsmouth Police, the accident occurred on July 25, at about 11:45 p.m. at the intersection of High and Hatton streets.
Witnesses said Wallace's car ran off High Street and crashed into the National Printing Co. building at the intersection. When police officers arrived, the report says, they found ``the vehicle running and (Wallace) inside with her head against the neck rest.''
Amber Whittaker, spokeswoman for the Portsmouth Police Department, said on Friday that the case would be reassigned.
``We will definitely reopen it and look into it,'' she said. It was unclear Friday what charges would be brought if arrests are made.
Crawford said that after her mother's death, her father, Edwin Wallace, ``went downhill.'' He died the following February, devastated by the loss of his wife, she said.
``They were inseparable,'' said son-in-law William Brown. ``Her death undoubtedly led to his death.''
Brown said that Mary Wallace was a giving person who displayed her concern for others through her career as a nurse, in her volunteer work in the community and with her family.
``She was the best mother-in-law anybody could ask for,'' Brown said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Iam Martin/The Virginian-Pilot
[Mary Spellar Wallace's family - including Cherri and William Brown,
her daughter and son-in-law...]
Color photo
In July 1994, Mary Speller Wallace, a nurse, died of a heart attack
while driving.
Graphic
The Letter
This is the text of the unsigned letter, dated Jan. 3, that was
mailed to The Virginian-Pilot:
I decided to write this letter because I can not take the guilt
anymore. I am not brave enough to tell you in person, so I decided
to write you a letter.
On July 24, 1994, my friends and I were driving down High street
around 11:30 p.m. We had been doing a little dope and having fun.
Two of my friends had guns for fun. While driving, we saw this white
and brown mini van driving down the street. We were going to have
some fun with the driver. We were not going to hurt her, just have
some fun. My friends started acting like they were going to shoot
her. they let off some shots in the air but they did not really try
to shoot her, just have some fun. The lady ran off the street and
hit the building. I later found out that she died. So that you will
know that this is true, it happened in the 1000 (block) of High
street. I can not tell you my name or there names. They are not the
kind of people that you tell on. I just lost my mom and for a week I
didnot know how she died. Please tell her family how she died. I
know how they must feel.
I sent a letter to the police but they might not tell her family.
Thanks.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT TRAFFIC FATALITY