Richmond connection

Richmond connection

in /Culpeper killing?

By Wally Bunker

Rappahannock News Staff Writer

While noting dissimilarities, Culpeper County Sheriff’s investigators planned to meet with Richmond detectives Wednesday to compare notes on homicides there and the unsolved death of Sheryl Ann “Sherri” Warner of Reva.

“You can’t throw out anything,” said Sheriff’s Maj. Jim Branch. Culpeper Sheriff’s deputies and firefighters found Ms. Warner’s body in the basement of her James Monroe Highway home on Dec. 18.

Responders to the scene initially found her house on fire and filled with smoke. Ms. Warner, 37, apparently died from a small caliber gunshot wound to the head, according to court documents. Her head hung from an electrical cord wrapped around her neck. Investigators did not find a gun at the scene.

Investigators want to talk with Richmond detectives about two gruesome multiple homicides — five adults and two children killed — earlier this month, in which two men have been charged. All the victims were bound with tape and their throats slit. On Jan. 1, four members of a Richmond family — a mother, father and two children — were found dead in their home, which had been set on fire.

On Jan. 6, Richmond police discovered the bodies of three adults in a ransacked house. Richmond police have charged the two men with conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the rash of homicides. “This is one of those things that has to be checked out,” said Maj. Branch Ms. Warner, the mother of three school-age children, was home alone at the time of her death. She worked as a receptionist for a local Culpeper attorney, and several years ago performed a similar function for Rappahannock’s Douglas Baumgardner.

Culpeper Crime Solvers is offering a $3,000 reward for information to help solve Ms. Warner’s death. Anyone with information may contact Crime Solvers at 7270300.