DATE: Wednesday, October 8, 1997            TAG: 9710080505

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   37 lines

BODY IS ARNAUD'S; SUSPECT'S ATTORNEY WANTS MENTAL TESTS

The body of a woman found in a rural field in Suffolk Monday has been identified as that of 38-year-old Candace ``Candy'' Arnaud, a Norfolk woman who had been missing since Sept. 17.

Police spokesman Larry Hill said the Medical Examiner's Office confirmed the identity Tuesday. Police, however, did not release the cause of death. Hill said the investigation is continuing.

Police suspected that the body was Arnaud's because Jack Lynn Autery led investigators to the thicket just off Buckhorn Drive near Holland where the body was found.

Autery, 42, has been charged with first-degree murder and the theft of Arnaud's 1989 Ford Taurus.

Autery's attorney, Robert E. Frank, on Tuesday told General District Judge Ray Dezern that his client has a mental disorder and asked that a mental examination be conducted to determine his competency. Autery said nothing during the arraignment.

``It was obvious when talking that he was suffering from'' a mental disorder, Frank said after the arraignment. ``He has to be able to help me prepare.''

Autery's preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 13.

Arnaud, who lived in the 500 block of Maycox Ave., was the mother of two daughters, ages 7 and 9. Her husband was on a six-month deployment when she disappeared.

It is not clear how Arnaud and Autery met. Family members said they were introduced by an acquaintance. Her mother said Autery had offered to repair the air conditioning on her daughter's car.

Arnaud and Autery were seen together sometime on Sept. 17. She was last seen leaving a residence in the 600 block of Ingleside Road that night. KEYWORDS: MURDER KIDNAPPING ARREST

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu