THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 29, 1997 TAG: 9701290460
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 106 lines
Accused of shooting to death a boy he did not know, James W. Waters Jr. admitted Tuesday that he was in the neighborhood where Tim Wheaton died, that he went shopping with credit cards that were not his, and that he took bullets out of a gun at a North Carolina beach cottage where he was arrested.
But Waters denied having anything to do with a shooting that has stunned the community of Kellam High School students and parents and left the Wheaton family in despair.
``I wasn't involved,'' Waters said, in an interview at the Virginia Beach City Jail. ``(Richard) Ethan (Hollingsworth) and me were in Norfolk at the time. They're holding me for something I didn't do. They don't have substantial evidence.
All they have is witness evidence. They don't have no fingerprints. No pictures. No video.
``They said we were in a Dodge Neon, but a Dodge Shadow doesn't look anything like a Dodge Neon,'' Waters said. ``They don't got nothing linking me to this crime, me or Ethan.''
Early reports from witnesses to the crime indicated a Dodge Neon carried the gunman and the accomplices, but Police Department spokesman Lou Thurston said police found a burgundy Dodge Shadow outside the cottage in Long Beach, N.C., where four teens were arrested Sunday night.
While at the cottage with three other suspects, Waters said he removed bullets from a ``.22-caliber, semi-automatic'' handgun. Police have not released information on the type of gun used in the crime.
About an hour before the interview, Waters, Hollingsworth and two other teen-agers accused in the shooting death of Wheaton, a Kellam High School student, were ordered held without bond by Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judge H. Thomas Padrick Jr.
All are charged with murder, while Waters is also charged with using a gun in the commission of a felony.
Taking turns in appearances before the judge, the teens offered no testimony as the charges were read to them. Official pleas will not be entered until their preliminary hearings.
Waters, 19, of the 1700 block of Lord Tennyson Arch, will receive a court-appointed attorney, and his bond hearing will be set once the attorney is appointed.
Richard Ethan Hollingsworth, 18, of the 1800 block of Blairmore Arch, will have a bond hearing Thursday in juvenile court. He was represented by Moody E. Stallings Jr., a Virginia Beach attorney. Hollingsworth is being held in the city jail.
Monica Oliver, 17, of the 800 block of Steeple Chase Court, was given a court-appointed lawyer, Stephen P. Givando, a former assistant commonwealth's attorney in Norfolk and now in private practice.
Stephanie Grace Wall, 17, of the 3000 block of Blitz Court, will be represented by Kathryn E. Fine, who was appointed by the court. Because they are juveniles and must by law have trial dates set 21 days from the first hearing, both Oliver and Wall were given trial dates of Feb. 13. Those dates likely will be extended as prosecutors and other attorneys gather evidence.
Both girls were being held in the Tidewater Detention Home in Chesapeake, but Judge Padrick said that threats against the defendants from other juveniles in custody and who have connections to Kellam High School have forced authorities to find another place to hold them. Those arrangements were being made Tuesday.
In his jailhouse interview, Waters said he had never heard of Wheaton, a standout soccer player whose reputation as a generous, kind and well-rounded boy has added a deeper dimension to the senselessness of his death.
``I don't know who he is,'' Waters said. ``They got a description of me but it didn't even fit. They said I had black hair and mine is brown. They said my hair was swept back, but I never wear my hair like that.''
Waters said he grew up in a military family. He moved from state to state, settling in Virginia Beach about seven years ago. His father is assigned to a Navy ship, he said, but he could not remember which one.
A few hours after Waters spoke, the Wheaton family held a memorial service for their son at a local funeral home. A funeral Mass will be held today at Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church at the Oceanfront where Wheaton's mother is a nurse.
Waters said he was in Landstown Meadows around 5 p.m. Saturday visiting a friend who had been in a fight earlier in the week. Waters said he wanted to see how his friend was doing. He said he stayed 20 minutes.
He said he then went to Norfolk with Hollingsworth and Oliver to visit Oliver's boyfriend. He claimed they stayed there until 9 p.m.
Wheaton was shot shortly after 7 p.m. in the 3000 block of Barberry Lane at Bloomfield Drive, in Landstown Lakes. He died at the scene.
Waters claimed that Hollingsworth left Norfolk with Oliver, and drove to Ocean Lakes where Hollingsworth lived. Hollingsworth took his father's credit cards, and they all returned to Norfolk, Waters said.
He claimed they then went shopping at Janaf Plaza with the credit cards. They went to Sneaker Stadium and Wal-Mart, he said. After this, they returned to Waters' apartment where they stayed until ``1 or 2 a.m.'' At some time, Wall paged Oliver and in a phone conversation they agreed to get together, he said.
At about 3 a.m. they headed to North Carolina where Hollingsworth's grandfather has a summer cottage. Waters said he met Hollingsworth about a year ago this January but had not seen much of him until the last two weeks.
Long Beach is an island community 35 miles south of Wilmington at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. While at the cottage, Waters said he found and emptied the gun.
The foursome was arrested without incident at the cottage. Police confiscated an undisclosed number of weapons from the house. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by TAMARA VONINSKI/The Virginian-Pilot
``They're holding me for something I didn't do. They don't have
substantial evidence.''
- JAMES W. WATERS JR., 19, who is charged in the shooting death of
Virginia Beach teen Tim Wheaton
KEYWORDS: JAILHOUSE INTERVIEW MURDER JUVENILE ARREST
SHOOTING