William R. Hagy Jr., convicted of first-degree murder for strangling a Roanoke woman in 1984, pleaded no contest today to the 1985 murder of another woman in her Old Southwest home and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Hagy, 49, was sentenced to two concurrent life terms by Roanoke Circuit Judge William Broadhurst. Under a plea […]
DNA
DNA: a civil right?
The Houston Chronicle has an interesting article related on DNA as related to the Skinner case. It discusses that the United States Supreme Court (USSC) must consider if inmates’ requests for DNA testing can be handled as civil rights claims — a question that has split the nation’s top federal courts. The USSC on Thursday […]
Update Ray Hagy trial
William Ray Hagy Jr., who was convicted this week of one 1980s murder and is accused of another, is to plead no contest Friday to resolve the remaining charges against him, said his attorney, Gary Lumsden. Ray Hagy, 49, also is to be sentenced Friday, the Roanoke Circuit Court Clerk’s office confirmed. Ray Hagy, who […]
Update Yolanda Baker Trial
Closing arguments have began in the Yolanda Baker trial. She went missing about 11 years ago and was legally declared dead in 2009. She was the mother to twins, a boy and a girl. This is only the third time that a “no body” murder case was tried in D.C. according to a U.S. attorney’s […]
Hank Johnson to be exhumed
Hank Johnson was murdered more than 100 miles away from home almost two years ago and a key clue may be buried with him. His mother, Sandi Johnson will be at Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery to watch what she thinks should have been done a long time ago. She believes he was buried with crucial […]
Zeigler, Part III
The Unusual Crime Scene, Zeigler (part 3): Despite that this large, dark furniture store was a crime scene with multiple bodies inside, police did not hesitate to enter it several times. Orange County Sheriff’s Office deputies and other officers violated basic rules of procedure by entering a dark crime scene knowing they will disturb evidence. […]
Execution halted for Hank Skinner!
The U.S. Supreme Court stopped the Hank Skinner execution about an hour before he could have been taken to the Texas death chamber. The brief order grants him the delay but does not ensure he will get such testing. The court order came as relatives of Busby were climbing the steps of the Huntsville prison […]
Hagy, presenting no defense, guilty of 1984 slaying
William Ray Hagy Jr. on Tuesday denied killing a Roanoke woman in 1984, speaking not from the witness stand in his murder trial but in a 2-year-old recorded interview played by prosecutors. “I have a feeling you’re going to charge me with this,” Hagy said in the conversation with the Roanoke police detective who reopened […]
Update Cynthia Denise McCray
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 […]
Hagy on trial today in 1984 slaying
Two Roanoke women killed less than six months apart. Their unclothed bodies left about a mile from each other. Both strangled during or after sex. For almost a quarter-century, any connection between the slayings of Cynthia Denise McCray, a 21-year-old black woman dumped under an Interstate 581 overpass, and Audrey Anne West, a 33-year-old white […]