Virginia : More On Mother And Daughter Who Were Murdered By Daughter's Ex-Husband.....
Slimpickins
Friday, July 7, 2000
BY KATHRYN ORTH
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer
FARMVILLE -- It was a routine traffic stop, a Ford Taurus doing 48 mph in a
35 mph zone. But the police officer saw blood on the hands of the driver and
an ax on the front seat of the car.
Within minutes after Farmville Officer Chris Fishburne stopped Reginald
Varner for speeding on Third Street, an investigation into the murders of
Varner's ex-wife and former mother-in-law was under way.
Fishburne stopped Varner about 6 p.m. Wednesday. At almost the same time,
local businessman Frank Arena arrived at his home on state Route 696, east
of Farmville, to find his wife, Suzanne, bludgeoned to death in their living
room. About half an hour later, Suzanne Arena's daughter, Susan Varner, who
had been seen by friends in a local grocery store at about 5 p.m., would be
found dead in her home, which was less than 10 miles from her mother's
house.
Reginald Varner and Susan Varner separated in 1994 and divorced in 1998. The
couple had one son, and each had a daughter from previous marriages.
Emergency call came during check
Frank Arena's 6:16 p.m. emergency call went through the Farmville dispatch
center while Fishburne was checking Varner's license and questioning him on
Third Street. Alerted by the dispatchers, Fishburne took Varner in for
questioning.
Farmville police Lt. Wade Stimpson heard the reports and was worried about
Susan Varner, a friend. He drove to her house in Cumberland County, only
yards north of the Farmville town limits, arriving at 6:45 p.m. What he
found there appalled him and shocked this town of 6,000 people, where almost
everyone knows everyone else.
Susan Varner, like her mother, lay dead on the floor of her farmhouse,
within sight of the back door. Cumberland deputies, called by Stimpson,
arrived close behind him.
Trials in Prince Edward County
Cumberland Sheriff Claude Meinhard said Susan Varner had been killed with an
ax.
Reginald Varner has been charged in Cumberland with first-degree murder in
the death of Susan Varner and in Prince Edward County with capital murder in
the two deaths. Although Susan Varner died in Cumberland County, both
slayings will be tried in Prince Edward County, said Prince Edward
Commonwealth's Attorney James Ennis.
"Both [homicides] will be prosecuted in Prince Edward because the town of
Farmville straddles the county line, and Prince Edward has jurisdiction
within 300 yards of the town limits. Cumberland has deferred to our
jurisdiction," Ennis said.
Trying the murders together allows authorities to bring the capital murder
charge, which carries the possibility of the death penalty, Ennis said.
It is unclear which woman was killed first, authorities said.
At an advisory hearing yesterday, Varner tried to waive his right to counsel
and told Judge Robert Woodson he would not sign a request to have a lawyer
appointed for him. In spite of Varner's refusal to ask for an attorney,
Woodson appointed Khalil Latif of Farmville and Lucretia A. Carrico of
Powhatan County to represent him.
Woodson set hearing dates for Aug. 30 in Prince Edward Juvenile and Domestic
Relations Court and Sept. 5 in Prince Edward General District Court. Varner
is being held without bond at the Piedmont Regional Jail.
Affidavits for search warrants filed by police said blood was visible on
Varner's hands and on an ax in the front seat during the traffic stop. The
court papers also said that both victims were hit on the head by some kind
of sharp instrument.
According to the search warrants, authorities seized the clothes Varner was
wearing when he was stopped, as well as an ax, a tire iron and a box of
tools from the car, as well as the car's floor mats and pieces of the
passenger seat and carpeting.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/virginia/fville07.shtml
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Contact Kathryn Orth at (804) 392-6605 or ko...@timesdispatch.com
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