DATE: Saturday, May 10, 1997                TAG: 9705100365

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS

                                            LENGTH:   85 lines

VIRGINIA

Some rest areas

will get guards

to help deter crime

RICHMOND - Some Virginia rest areas are getting private security guards and monitoring devices to help guard against crime, Gov. George F. Allen announced Friday.

The targeted rest areas include the northbound rest area on Interstate 95 in Caroline County at Ladysmith; the southbound passenger vehicle rest area on I-95 in Prince William County at Dale City; the northbound rest area on Interstate 81 in Montgomery County at Ironto; and the northbound rest area on I-95 in Greensville County.

Allen said the new security measures are an effort by the state police to make rest areas safer for travelers. Since December, two people have been slain and a number of robberies have occurred at interstate rest stops.

Army cooking instructor

sentenced for sex with 2

FORT LEE - An Army cooking instructor has been sentenced to four years in prison for having sex with two female trainees.

Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Ayers, 28, was convicted late Thursday of adultery, attempted adultery, indecent assault and improper relationships involving two soldiers, ages 18 and 19.

Ayers, a 10-year Army veteran, also will have to forfeit pay and allowances, be reduced to the rank of private and be dishonorably discharged after he serves his sentence.

The prosecuting attorney, Capt. Gregory L. Bowman, asked jurors to recommend a sentence that would ``deter anyone else (who) would even contemplate these crimes.''

The five-man, two-woman military jury deliberated for 3 1/2 hours before returning the verdict, closing a two-day court-martial.

Ayers hung his head and began to cry softly when the verdict was read. He was charged with having sex with a 19-year-old private in her barracks and attempting to have sex with an 18-year-old private who was one of his students. The prosecution said he also made sexual advances toward the 18-year-old in a latrine.

Both women testified that their sexual encounters with Ayers had been consensual. Both of them had been food-service trainees at Fort Lee when the incidents occurred but are now stationed at other military bases. NORTHERN

Spotsylvania investigation

of slain girls intensifies

SPOTSYLVANIA - The lead investigator into the slayings of two young sisters said Friday that police still do not have a strong lead more than a week after the girls were apparently abducted from their front yard.

The number of investigators working the case full time increased by 50 percent and police added a special telephone line to help handle the flood of calls coming in to police and the FBI. Police are also planning to offer a reward for information on the killer.

Kristin Lisk, 15, and Kati Lisk, 12, disappeared May 1. Their bodies were discovered Tuesday, apparently dumped in a river about 40 miles away from their home.

Police said the state medical examiner has not determined how the girls were slain. They have said they would not release any information while the investigation is ongoing.

The Lisk case will be featured today on the television program ``America's Most Wanted,'' and Smith said he expects hundreds of new leads after the segment.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the FBI at 540-373-2862, the Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office at 540-582-7115, or the toll-free number at 800-729-1411. To contribute to the reward fund, checks should be sent to the attention of Lt. John Burruss in care of the Spotsylvania Sheriff, Lisk Reward, P.O. Box 124, Spotsylvania, Va. 22553. Contributors should include ``Account 90-2275'' on the check.

COMING UP

Today

RICHMOND - Former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder to deliver the keynote address at Virginia Union University's commencement at 10 a.m. at the Arthur Ashe Center.

State Democrats nominate their candidates for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general at a convention.

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