11026TDCA01A CITY BLACK ONLY 11026TDCA01A ZALLCALL 66 00:56:46 10/26/02 B
ABCDE
VIRGINIA’S NEWS LEADER
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
FINAL
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2002
A MEDIA GENERAL NEWSPAPER
MARYLAND TO SEEK DEATH PENALTY
AGAINST MUHAMMAD ONLY
VIRGINIA PLANS TO SEEK DEATH
PENALTY FOR BOTH SUSPECTS
75¢
ᔢ ᔢ ᔢ
ALABAMA FILES CAPITAL MURDER
CHARGES AGAINST BOTH SUSPECTS
PROSECUTORS LINING UP
Area police
close to sniper
several times
Maryland charges suspects
with six counts of murder
Tracking the suspects
Authorities believe people connected with the serial sniper
killings made phone calls from these two gas stations.
BY ANDY TAYLOR,
MARK BOWES
AND MEREDITH FISCHER
m
rha
Pa
BY PAUL BRADLEY
AND ANDREW PETKOFSKY
ad
Ro
Times-Dispatch Staff Writers
ROCKVILLE, Md. — Maryland’s
Montgomery County, where the
deadly sniper shootings started
and ended, lodged formal murder
charges against the two suspects.
County State’s Attorney Douglas Gansler said yesterday that he
will charge John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo,
17, with six counts of first-degree
murder in connection with the
three-week shooting rampage.
Gansler said prosecutors will
seek the death penalty against
Muhammad, and that his alleged
accomplice, Malvo, will be tried
as an adult.
Maryland law says prosecutors
can’t seek the death penalty
against Malvo because he is a juvenile, but they plan to seek the
maximum penalty of life imprisonment without parole.
Gansler announced his plans
after consulting with federal officials and prosecutors from the
six other jurisdictions where the
shootings took place — the District of Columbia, Prince
George’s County, Md., and the
Virginia counties of Fairfax,
Prince William, Spotsylvania and
Times-Dispatch Staff Writers
64
John Allen
Muhammad
Exxon
Police apprehended two men who were
using pay phones early Monday,
minutes after someone believed to be
the sniper used a pay phone there to
call police. The men apprehended were
not connected to the sniper case.
et
Stre
ad
Bro
64
Dickens Road
Falm
o
Stre uth
et
John Lee Malvo
ive
Dr
e
sid
en
Gl
Forest
Avenue
n
Horsepe
Road
The Associated Press
MOSCOW — Special forces
troops stormed a Moscow theater before sunrise today, freeing
hundreds of hostages held by
Chechen rebels and killing their
leader in a bloody end to the
three-day standoff.
Dozens of bodies were seen
being removed from the theater.
Survivors were loaded onto
buses, many in shock or unconscious. It was not clear exactly
how many of the dead were hostages or rebels.
SATURDAY
ONLINE ៉
et
re
St
Lib
bie
Av
en
ue
Staples
Mill Road
Mo
Av num
en en
ue t
Fas Mart
A man believed to be John Lee Malvo called
police from a pay phone early Sunday
morning. The sniper suspects were not there
when police arrived.
Pa
tte
rso
n
Ave
nu
e
IN THE METRO SECTION
ᔢ Ashland priest had no idea call came from
sniper. Page A6.
ᔢ Most schools lift lockdowns, resume planned
activities. Page B1.
ᔢ Witnesses link suspects’ car to Spotsylvania
shooting. Page A6.
ᔢ Some events are back on, but others fall
victim to bad timing. Page B1.
ᔢ Suspects’ race shocks some in black
community. Page A7.
ᔢ Threat of evil wanes; yet we need to maintain
our watchful attitude. Page B1.
SEE RUSSIA, PAGE A4៑
©New York Times News Service
Harris dies
Irish actor Richard
Harris, who first gained
fame in the 1960s and
found a new generation of
fans in the Harry Potter
movie, dies at 72.
(Obituary, Page A12.)
They promise to free 600
if Russia declares end to
war with Chechnya.
World /A4
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Sen. Paul Wellstone, a twoterm Democrat in one of the tightest campaigns in
the nation, died yesterday morning when his campaign plane crashed in freezing rain near Eveleth,
Minn.
Wellstone’s high school sweetheart and wife of
39 years, Sheila; his 33-year-old daughter, Marcia
Markuson; three campaign aides and two pilots
also died in the fiery crash, which obliterated the
11-seat turboprop among the pine trees.
Wellstone, 58, a former political science professor, was an unabashed liberal who often landed on
the short end of 99-1 votes and served as a national
spokesman for labor, the environment, and the
poor. He was remembered by political allies and enemies alike as a passionate fighter whose commitment to working families was matched only by his
Too good
INDEX
Once deemed too small
and too slow, Emmitt
Smith is on the verge of
becoming the NFL’s
career rushing leader.
A National & World News
LOTTERIES .....................................A5
EDITORIALS.................................A10
B Metro & Virginia
ENTERTAINMENT............................B5
FAITH AND VALUES.........................B6
OBITUARIES ...................................B9
WEATHER....................................B10
C Business
MARKET TABLES.............................C2
Sports /D1
Copyright © 2002, 152nd Year, No. 299
6
04333 00002
9
Hour by hour
Oversight board
William Webster, former
head of FBI and CIA, to
head group that will
oversee accountants.
Business /C1
SEE LETTER, PAGE A6៑
Minnesota senator’s wife, daughter among 8 dead
http://www.timesdispatch.com
Today’s weather
The cover page is neat and impressive. “For you Mr. Police,” it
says. “Call me God.” The words
are surrounded by five stars
placed in an orderly way.
The letter left at the penultimate sniper shooting in Ashland
on Oct. 19 is chilling in its detail
and its threats, but it also provides a treasure trove of clues for
investigators.
It contains phone numbers and
locations that the snipers called
in a half-dozen unsuccessful attempts to contact authorities. It
also lists account information
about a stolen platinum Visa card
that the assailants wanted reactivated with $10 million that they
could freely access.
“We will have unlimited withdrawl at any atm worldwide,”
reads the letter, which continues
for three pages after the cover. It
provided the Bank of America
card’s 16-digit account number,
its four-digit personal identification number, the activation and
expiration dates and the name of
the woman who legitimately
owned the card.
“You will activate the bank account, credit card, and Pin number,” it demanded.
Experts said the letter, a copy
Wellstone dies in crash
Hostage takers
threaten captives
Partly cloudy. High 69.
Low 50. /B10
Los Angeles Times/
Washington Post News Service
Commonwealth
Avenue
IN THIS SECTION
Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Vasilyev said that about
three dozen of the estimated 50
hostage-takers had been killed
but that some apparently had
managed to escape.
“I would like to warn bandits
and society that we have all information about them and that if
they give up, we will guarantee
their lives,” he said.
He added that by storming the
building, special forces avoided
greater casualties and “the death
of most of the hostages, including children.”
The rescue raid was launched
after the rebels began executing
SEE CHARGES, PAGE A6៑
Letter provides clues on sniper
TIMES-DISPATCH
Russian troops storm
theater in Moscow
Hostages freed;
rebel leader killed
64
d
oa
Br
SEE CALLS, PAGE A7៑
ring
Hungary Sp
Road
Skipwith Road
Police apparently missed the
snipers in the Richmond area on
more than one occasion, sources
told The Times-Dispatch.
A call was made Sunday morning to the sniper task force that
was traced to a pay phone at a
Fas Mart convenience store at
West Broad Street and Commonwealth Avenue, in Richmond’s
West End, sources said.
That was one of several calls
apparently made to the sniper
task force before and after Saturday night’s shooting at a Ponderosa Steak House in Ashland. Police narrowly missed the sniper
early Monday morning at an
Exxon station at West Broad
Street and Parham Road.
The suspects made calls from
six or more locations in the Richmond area, including three in
Ashland, two or more in Henrico
and at least one in Richmond,
law enforcement sources said.
The Times-Dispatch could not
determine the other locations.
The calls prompted police to
watch hundreds of pay phones in
the metro area, sources said.
“We were paying people to
watch these phones,” a law enforcement official said. “A lot of
revenue was expended.”
Another source said, “We
were conducting surveillance on
a bunch of telephones, probably
in the hundreds.”
In the Sunday call at the
Fas Mart, a customer believed to
be 17-year-old John Lee Malvo
went to the counter and asked a
clerk for change to use the telephone, a source said.
When task force officers arrived about 9:45 a.m., the sniper
suspects were not there.
There was a delay between
when the call was made and
when authorities arrived, sources
said. It took police 6 to 7 minutes
to learn the caller’s location from
Hanover.
Each of the jurisdictions has a
strong interest in the case, he
said.
But “Montgomery County was
the community most affected and
most impacted by the shootings.
Unfortunately, we suffered six of
the 10 homicides in our community,” he added.
Left unresolved by Gansler’s
initiative is which of the six jurisdictions will get first crack at the
two suspects.
Just because Montgomery
County charged the suspects first
doesn’t mean it will try them
first. That question ultimately
will be decided by federal prosecutors, who now have custody
of the pair.
In Alabama, meanwhile, where
a critical piece of evidence helped
lead authorities to the accused
killers, the two were charged
with one count each of capital
murder and one count of attempted murder in the shooting
death of a woman in Montgomery on Sept. 21.
Alabama officials said they
plan to seek the death penalty for
both suspects.
Muhammad is being held on a
Fox’s ‘24,’ starring
Kiefer Sutherland,
begins second season
with new conflicts,
characters.
Green Section /G4
Happier Halloween
Pumpkin carver wants
to put a smile
on scary holiday.
Home & Garden /F1
FALL26
2.0
0.83
closeness to his own.
Earlier this month, he was one of just 23 senators, and the only one in a close re-election fight, to
vote against a resolution authorizing President
Bush to take unilateral action
against Iraq.
Wellstone’s death was mourned
across the political spectrum, from
CRUSADER:
Bush to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.
Wellstone
His death comes only 11 days
campaigned for
away from an election that will demany liberal
causes. Page A9. cide control of the Senate.
The plane crash was a shocking
echo of the crash that killed Gov.
Mel Carnahan of Missouri, the Democratic Senate
nominee, shortly before Election Day in 2000. Carnahan’s name remained on the ballot. He was
INSIDE
SEE WELLSTONE, PAGE A9៑
D Sports
COLLEGES..................................... D4
SCOREBOARD ............................... D7
E Classified
CLASSIFIED INDEX .........................E6
BRIDGE.......................................E10
F Flair
COMICS......................................... F6
THE BACK PAGE ............................. F8
G Green
TELEVISION....................................G4
SOAPS ........................................G17
Fall back
Daylight-saving time ends tomorrow
at 2 a.m., so don’t forget to set your
clocks back one hour.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
COMING
TOMORROW
$1 billion for
colleges and parks
Are the statewide bond
referendums for higher
education and parks
still a sure thing?
End of the road
Route 58 road trip
ends where three
states converge.