The Virginian-Pilot
                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, February 20, 1997           TAG: 9702200050
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   32 lines

BARBER STABBED; SUSPECT FOUND DEAD

A barber in the northern part of the city was stabbed Tuesday night, and a man identified by police as his suspected assailant was found dead Wednesday morning in a nearby greenhouse.

The death is being investigated as a suicide, said Lt. W.M. Bunker, who gave this account:

Douglas W. Brinkley, 43, who lives at Dougie's Barber Shop in the 5600 block of Shoulders Hill Road, was stabbed twice - once in the left side and once in the center of his chest - about 11:20 p.m.

Brinkley, stabbed at the shop, went to a nearby service station at the intersection with Bridge Road - U.S. Route 17 - and a policeman who happened to be there called Bennett's Creek Rescue Squad.

Brinkley was taken to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, where he was in stable condition Wednesday afternoon, a hospital spokeswoman said.

No motive had been established for the stabbing, and police had recovered no weapon.

About 8 a.m. Wednesday, employees of Bennett's Creek Wholesale Nursery on Bridge Road found William J. Maupin Jr., 39, hanging in a greenhouse at the rear of the nursery and across Shoulders Hill Road from the barber shop.

Maupin lived in the 2600 block of Sportsman Boulevard in the Wonderland Forest section, several miles away.

Maupin, who was unemployed, had no known connection with the nursery.

KEYWORDS: ASSAULT SUICIDE


by CNB