THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 28, 1997 TAG: 9701280210
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 126 lines
He was a boy any parent dreamed of having. Tall, good-looking, with a shock of brown hair and a toothy smile that set off his boyish dimples.
An avid soccer player, Tim Wheaton was a goalie for the Kellam High Knights and yet still found time to play for the traveling teams of the Atlantic, Lafayette and Old Dominion soccer clubs. If that weren't enough to make a parent happy, he also was an excellent student.
He had, at 17, in short, just about everything going for him when, in a brief and unexpected encounter with four strangers Saturday night, Wheaton was shot and killed by a man not much older than he.
This morning in Virginia Beach Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, the four teen-agers accused of taking part in the crime will appear before a judge on murder charges.
Arrested Sunday evening at a vacation home in Long Beach, N.C., the four suspects were identified as James W. Waters Jr., 19, of the 1700 block of Lord Tennyson Arch; Richard Ethan Hollingsworth, 18, of the 1800 block of Blairmore Arch; Monica Oliver, 17, of the 800 block of Steeple Chase Court; and Stephanie Grace Wall, 17, of the 3000 block of Blitz Court.
All are charged with first-degree murder, although Waters faces an additional charge of using a firearm in the commission of a felony, police said. All four waived extradition and were flown to Norfolk aboard a city-leased plane.
This afternoon, a memorial service at Kellum Funeral Home will bring together Wheaton's friends and family for a final goodbye. A funeral Mass will be celebrated Wednesday at Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church.
The crime, coming as it did among the normally quiet streets of Landstown Lakes just east of the GTE Virginia Beach Amphitheater, crushed Wheaton's family and left his friends lonely and confused. While some details remain unclear, the father of one of Wheaton's many friends said Monday that the case is one of mistaken identity and simple cruelty.
``This was a circumstance of being in the wrong place at the wrong time,'' said Dan Williams, whose son was a best friend of Wheaton.
Williams gave his account of the crime based upon his conversations with witnesses.
About 7 p.m. Saturday, Wheaton and his two friends were walking along the 3000 block of Barberry Lane when, at the corner of Bloomfield Drive, a car approached. It stopped, then backed up.
A passenger in the car questioned Wheaton and the boys, asking if they knew another boy who happened to live nearby. That boy had been involved in a fight that had taken place earlier in the week, and the people in the car were out for revenge, Williams said.
They asked Wheaton's friend if he knew where the boy lived, Williams said, and Wheaton's friend said no.
``They turned to Tim Wheaton and asked if he knew him,'' Williams said, and Wheaton reportedly said ``No.''
``If you're f------ lying to me, I'll kill you, man,'' the passenger in the car said.
Wheaton reportedly said, ``I'm not lying.''
The boy in the car then fired one shot, hitting Wheaton in the chest.
``Tim jumped back and the first boy screamed, `Run!' '' Williams said.
The three dropped their bicycles and ran about 25 yards, but Wheaton collapsed. One friend ran between some houses while the second ran to a home and asked the resident to call police. Wheaton's friends returned to the scene, where Wheaton died moments later.
``The whole thing stemmed from a fight,'' Williams said. ``Tim Wheaton happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.''
Having told the story, Williams thought about the boy he had come to call ``Bigfoot,'' because of the size 13 shoes that Wheaton wore.
``Tim Wheaton was exactly the kind of person you'd want your son to be with,'' Williams said. ``He was a kind person. He made good grades. He worked hard. He would even mow lawns in the neighborhood for the women whose husbands were at sea. . . .
``If he was some kid who was living on the edge, who did drugs, you could sorta say, `Well, I saw it coming.' But he had nothing like that in his life.''
After the shooting, it is unclear where the suspects went.
One of them, Hollingsworth, reportedly went home and then was asked by his father to go out and buy some milk, said Rose Marie Biggs, Hollingsworth's 66-year-old grandmother.
``When he was gone for a while, his father went upstairs and found a note that said he would be gone for a while and that he loved his dad,'' Biggs said. ``Then he found credit cards missing.
``This has just devastated us,'' Biggs said, fighting back tears. ``I just wish I could put my arms around the Wheaton family and hug them.''
She said Hollingsworth never has been in trouble with the police and is a good student. He graduated in 1995 from Ocean Lakes High School and was enrolled at Old Dominion University.
``He was so shy, so introverted,'' she said. ``I think he just fell into the wrong group.''
Less is known about the other suspects. The mothers of both girls declined comment.
Virginia Beach Public Schools spokesman Joe Lowenthal said neither girl was currently enrolled in a city school. Waters' family could not be reached for comment.
It was a call from a credit card company, asking about cash withdrawals, that prompted Hollingsworth's father to call police, eventually leading to the arrests.
When questioned by detectives, the family said that one relative had a summer cottage at Long Beach, N.C. Virginia Beach police then asked authorities in the small resort community to investigate.
Detectives and the department's SWAT team then converged on a small cottage at 215 N.E. 55th St. and successfully negotiated the surrender of the four teen-agers who were inside. An undisclosed number of weapons was confiscated.
The four suspects were flown Monday evening to Norfolk.
Virginia Beach Police spokesman Lou Thurston said the two girls were taken to the Tidewater Detention Home. The two males, because they were older, were taken to the city jail. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
VICKI CRONIS
The Virginian-Pilot
James W. Waters, 19, one of the suspects in the killing of
17-year-old Tim Wheaton, looks at TV camera lights as he is taken
away from Piedmont Aviation on his return from Long Beach, N.C. He
and three others were returned on Monday.
VP Map
[Photos]
SUSPECT: Richard Ethan Hollingsworth
SUSPECT: James W. Waters, Jr.
VICTIM: Tim Wheaton
KEYWORDS: MURDER ARREST SHOOTING JUVENILE