Virginia Lawyers Weekly

STAUNTON—A woman charged just last month in the 1967 slayings of two young co-workers at an ice cream shop has died.

Sharron Diane Crawford Smith, 61, died Monday night, Staunton Police spokeswoman Lisa Klein said. An official cause of death was not released, but prosecutors had said Smith, who was living in an undisclosed terminal care facility, was suffering from kidney and heart disease.

Smith was charged on Dec. 12 with first-degree murder in the deaths of Constance Smootz Hevener, 19, and Hevener’s 20-year-old sister-in-law, Carolyn Hevener Perry.

The victims’ bodies were found April 11, 1967, in a back room at High’s Ice Cream shop in Staunton. Both had been shot in the back of the head.

A press conference was planned for later in the week to provide details of the investigation.

Smith had not yet entered a plea and a court appearance earlier this month was continued.

Police began investigating new leads in the last few months.

Smith’s name was found in the original case file, but nothing linked her to the slayings at the time of the initial investigation, Staunton Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond C. Robertson had said. He declined to elaborate on a motive, but said it wasn’t robbery. About $138 was stolen the night of the slayings.

Police said Smith moved to North Carolina shortly after the killings and returned to Staunton 22 years ago.

In 1968, William W. Thomas Jr., 24, of Staunton, was acquitted in Hevener’s slaying. A murder indictment against Thomas in Perry’s death has stood for four decades, although it was never pursued. The indictment was dropped on Dec. 30.

Close this Window Bookmark and Share This Page

Save to Browser Favorites / Bookmarks

Print RSS Feed Ask backflip blinklist BlogBookmark Bloglines BlogMarks Blogsvine BuddyMarks BUMPzee! CiteULike co.mments

Connotea del.icio.us Digg diigo DotNetKicks DropJack dzone Facebook Fark Faves Feed Me Links Friendsite folkd.com

Furl Google Hugg Jeqq Kaboodle kirtsy linkaGoGo linkedin LinksMarker Ma.gnolia Mister Wong Mixx MySpace

MyWeb Netvouz Newsvine oneview OnlyWire PlugIM Propeller Reddit Rojo Segnalo Shoutwire Simpy Slashdot

Sphere Sphinn Spurl Squidoo StumbleUpon Technorati ThisNext Tumblr Twitter Webride Windows Live Yahoo!

Email This to a Friend

Copy HTML: 

 If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed.

More »