Willam Hagy Jr. just pleaded not guilty in the cold case murder of Cynthia Denise McCray from 1984, see my post “Hagy goes on trial today in 1984 slaying.” Hagy’s defense attorney argued for and won a bench trial, meaning there will not be a jury to decide Hagy’s guilty or innocence. The judge delayed a hearing on a second murder charge against Hagy, the killing of Audrey West, because Hagy’s defense attorney was not ready to hear that case.
A DNA hit back in November of 2007, made Hagy the center of Roanoke Police’s investigation in both killings. Then in October of 2008, a grand jury indicted Hagy on the murder charges. Hagy has been in state prison since 1986, serving a 50-year sentence for raping a 14-year-old girl. However, since Hagy was convicted before state lawmakers banned parole, he was set to be released in April of 2011.
Roanoke Police felt Hagy was so dangerous when he was not in prison that they put his name and information about murders in an FBI database for police departments across the country to see. Investigators fear Hagy may have committed other rapes and murders in areas other than Roanoke. Read it here.