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Rape, abduction charges added
Two 15-year-old boys charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death Aug. 5 of their 12-year-old neighbor also were charged Friday with rape and abduction.
Leon Smith and Darrin King, both of Morgantown, a small community a mile and a half west of Marshall, allegedly stoned to death Melissa Lee Bushrod. The girl also was choked and stomped on, according to police. She had a fractured skull, ruptured liver and a bruised esophagus, according to laboratory reports.
“From the evidence I’ve seen, it was really brutal_ probably the most brutal one we’ve ever had in the county,” Fauquier Sheriff Ashby Olinger said.
If tried and convicted as adults, the boys face three life sentences — one for each of the three charges. If convicted of first-degree murder during the commission of a rape, they could be sentenced to death.
They are being held in the Rappahannock Detention Center in Fredericksburg.
Working to improve truck safety
ROANOKE — State police last year inspected 3,021 heavy trucks in-depth and ordered 945 of them off the road because of safety defects, but authorities say the figures represent an improvement from 1980.
In 1984, 31 percent of 3,021 rigs were taken out of service. In the pilot project in 1980, 87 percent were found to be in that category.
“We have walked that mess down,” said Lt. B.E. Chisholm, who is in charge of the 21 troopers who perform the inspections.
He attributed the better safety figures to improved truck equipment.
The troopers checked 13,349 trucks in 1984, Chisholm said. In-depth inspections were conducted on 3,021 trucks because they appeared to be in bad condition.
Because of difficulties in counting—such as the listing of the same truck several times in a drive across Virginia—the state Highways and Transportation Department has no figures on how many of the rigs use state highways yearly.
But Chisholm said heavy truck traffic accounts for about 11 percent of travel on Virginia roads.
In 1984, the inspectors found 17,637 safety violations— including faulty brakes, bald tires and other problems.
The inspectors gave 3,969 tickets and 14,850 warnings to operators.
Of the 3,021 vehicles given in-depth checks, 530 were carrying hazardous materials and the inspectors found 989 violations of the rules for such loads.
Charles L. Vaughan, a state police spokesman, said many Virginia trucking operations do an excellent job in seeing that their vehicles are safe.
“A nuyority of the violations ... are coming from other states,” he said.
Man shoots brother A
Witnesses at the scene told police that a construction worker accidentally shot his brother in the legs Sunday evening while attempting to defend him in a fight in their Loudoun County motel room, Sheriff’s Sgt. Terry McCracken said.
Dale Thompson of Phenix was listed in satisfactory condition Tuesday at Loudoun Memorial Hospital, a spokesman said.
David J. Thompson, 30, of Phenix was charged with unlawful wounding and shooting in an occupied dwelling. He is in the Loudoun jail in lieu of $6,000 bond.
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