DATE: Sunday, August 17, 1997               TAG: 9708170083

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   41 lines

GROUP TO ASK FBI TO INVESTIGATE ELK CREEK SLAYING SCLC OFFICIALS THINK THE BRUTAL, FIERY SLAYING WAS RACIALLY MOTIVATED.

The national Southern Christian Leadership Conference will ask the FBI to investigate the burning and beheading of a black Grayson County man as a racially motivated hate crime.

The Rev. Curtis W. Harris of Hopewell, president of the civil rights group's Virginia chapter, said he will contact the FBI on Monday about the murder of Garnett Paul ``G.P.'' Johnson of Elk Creek.

Two white men have been arrested in the slaying. The U.S. Justice Department is already investigating whether federal civil rights laws were violated.

Harris said SCLC officials interviewed Johnson's relatives and county authorities Thursday and Friday, ``and we fixed the matter to be racially motivated murder.''

Harris said the SCLC's president, Joseph Lowry, authorized him to press the FBI for an investigation on behalf of the national group.

Johnson, 40, was burned alive and beheaded July 25 after a night of drinking with four white acquaintances, investigators said.

Authorities have charged Louis J. Ceparano, 42, with capital murder and robbery. Emmitt Cressell Jr., 37, faces charges of first-degree murder and robbery.

A witness, Hazel Louise Anderson, told The Associated Press that Ceparano pinned Johnson on his back while Cressell stripped him of his watch.

The two men then carried Johnson outside, where he was doused with fuel and set on fire, Anderson said. She also said that Ceparano earlier in the evening had told Johnson that he was going to burn him upon a white cross.

Harris said the SCLC does not believe robbery was the motive.

``If you're going to rob somebody, you don't need to set them on fire and cut off their head,'' he said.

A preliminary hearing for Ceparano and Cressell has been scheduled for Sept. 2, but Ceparano's lawyer has asked for a postponement.

Ceparano is being held in the Carroll County jail without bond. Cressell is being held in the Grayson jail and has a bond hearing scheduled for Aug. 26.

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