mechanicsville - Offical Contest Rules
mechanicsville - Offical Contest Rules
mechanicsville - Offical Contest Rules
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DUMPED<br />
Continued from pg. 1 <br />
Deborah “had been holding<br />
thousands of dollars for a drug<br />
dealer,” attributing the information<br />
to police sources and<br />
acquaintances.<br />
Sources also told the News<br />
Leader that “the drug dealer,<br />
Mark Miller, has acknowledged<br />
to police that Miss Ferguson<br />
was keeping money for him<br />
early this year.”<br />
Miller told police “a few<br />
thousand dollars was not<br />
returned, but friends of Miss<br />
Ferguson have said the amount<br />
was greater.”<br />
The News Leader also<br />
reported that some of Deborah’s<br />
friends said she told them all<br />
the money had been stolen<br />
from her apartment.<br />
On June 21, the News Leader<br />
reported that Deborah “had<br />
been holding at least $60,000<br />
<br />
Live On Stage!<br />
November 26 -<br />
February 6<br />
for a drug dealer.”<br />
The newspaper also said<br />
“she made large bank deposits<br />
and ran up her American<br />
Express bill.”<br />
Deborah and James were<br />
identified through dental<br />
records, the article reported.<br />
James’ driver’s license was found<br />
with his body, but no identification<br />
was found with Deborah.<br />
At the time, Lt. Howard L.<br />
Wray Jr. of the Sheriff’s Office<br />
said reports of drug deals had<br />
been made in the area where<br />
the bodies were found. He also<br />
said “there is no concrete evidence<br />
to link the slayings to<br />
drugs.”<br />
The victims “and their<br />
circle of friends,” according to<br />
the News Leader, were said to<br />
frequently use marijuana and<br />
cocaine.<br />
Deborah’s Ford Escort was<br />
located on Edgewood Avenue<br />
in Richmond on May 27. There<br />
Don’t miss this “wacky and outrageous”<br />
musical comedy!<br />
16 The Mechanicsville Local November 24, 2010<br />
were no signs of foul play or<br />
anything suspicious. Her keys<br />
were not with the vehicle,<br />
which, the News Leader reported,<br />
was not locked. James’ blue<br />
Jeep, which police and friends<br />
told the News Leader did not<br />
run, “remained parked in front<br />
of the house.”<br />
James Ferguson came<br />
to Richmond from Fairfax<br />
County, where his daughter was<br />
raised, to file a missing person’s<br />
report. He went to her apartment,<br />
located her address book,<br />
and started calling friends.<br />
In taking a new look at<br />
the cold case, Trice said, “We<br />
believe somebody knew both<br />
Sherrin and Ferguson and their<br />
killer(s), and that’s why we<br />
believe the public can provide<br />
more information on this case.”<br />
“We don’t believe it involved<br />
a stranger. We don’t believe it<br />
was a random crime. We believe<br />
they were targeted by some-<br />
282.2620<br />
BarksdaleRichmond.org<br />
body they knew and killed and<br />
dumped in Hanover County,”<br />
he said.<br />
He also said the case “has<br />
a lot of the same type of circumstances<br />
we have in other<br />
unsolved murders, where<br />
somebody goes missing in<br />
one jurisdiction and there is a<br />
period of time between when<br />
they were reported missing,<br />
the family gets involved, and<br />
they get identified in another<br />
jurisdiction. This case involved<br />
multiple agencies assembling a<br />
body of work.”<br />
“And while we do have leads,<br />
while we have assembled a lot of<br />
information, unfortunately, this<br />
case has gone unsolved for 20<br />
years,” Trice said.<br />
When asked “Why them?,”<br />
Trice said, “Well, it’s part of the<br />
investigation. Motive is one of<br />
those things we’re looking over<br />
again.” Their associates and<br />
interests also are being investigated<br />
again.<br />
Trice said the Sheriff’s Office<br />
hopes to receive information<br />
from those involved at that time<br />
in order “to bridge the investigative<br />
gap to where we are<br />
now,” with a goal of prosecuting<br />
the case.<br />
Deborah and James had a<br />
history: They had dated. Her<br />
appearance at his home took<br />
place after their break-up.<br />
Dover said the couple’s contact<br />
had been “very sporadic<br />
from the time they broke up<br />
until this date in May.” Deborah<br />
had just returned from a week’s<br />
vacation and her roommates<br />
were, the investigator added,<br />
“unfamiliar with what she was<br />
doing or where she was going.”<br />
According to the News<br />
Leader reports, Deborah “and<br />
a male friend, who also was an<br />
acquaintance of Miller, made<br />
a ‘spur-of-the-moment’ trip to<br />
Florida.”<br />
Over the course of the investigation,<br />
“probably 100 people<br />
were interviewed,” Dover said.<br />
“I personally believe that this<br />
is a solvable case, just based on<br />
what I’ve discovered so far.”<br />
An art major and dean’s<br />
list student at Virginia<br />
Commonwealth University, the<br />
5-foot-5 red-haired Deborah<br />
was a rising senior. She was<br />
preparing for an opening at the<br />
Pope Gallery.<br />
She lived in the Chesterfield<br />
Apartments at 900 W. Franklin<br />
St. and was a part-time employee<br />
of The Tobacco Company in<br />
downtown Richmond.<br />
A native of Midwest City,<br />
Okla., James – standing at 6foot-6<br />
and weighing 240 pounds<br />
— had been a standout football<br />
player and also had All-State<br />
honors in basketball. He was a<br />
part-time student at VCU and<br />
had sporadic jobs.<br />
The News Leader said James<br />
came to Virginia when his<br />
mother and stepfather, Mr. and<br />
Mrs. Bradley P. Coats, moved<br />
to western Henrico from<br />
Houston.<br />
“Since January,” the newspaper<br />
reported, “he had worked<br />
a variety of construction and<br />
other odd jobs and frequently<br />
had been low on money.<br />
Friends said he also owed small<br />
amounts of money – usually<br />
$15 or $20 – to many people.”<br />
As he continues with the<br />
investigation, Dover said he<br />
welcomes input “from those<br />
who were around at the time<br />
this occurred.” He can be contacted<br />
at 365-6281. Information<br />
also can be provided through<br />
Crime Stoppers at 780-1000.<br />
For more information on<br />
cold cases being investigated by<br />
the Hanover County Sheriff’s<br />
Office, visit www.hanoversheriff.com.<br />
GardenFest of Lights opens Friday<br />
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden has<br />
announced that the popular GardenFest of Lights<br />
annual show has been renamed the Dominion<br />
GardenFest of Lights to recognize its title sponsor<br />
for the past 12 years.<br />
This year’s event begins on Friday, Nov. 26,<br />
and ends on Monday, Jan. 10.<br />
“GardenFest of Lights has become a family<br />
tradition for many and our ongoing partnership<br />
with Dominion helps keep it fresh and exciting<br />
each year,” Frank Robinson, executive director<br />
of Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. said. “It’s a<br />
natural fit for Dominion to be title sponsor of an<br />
event powered by electricity while at the same<br />
time focused on energy savings.”<br />
The annual event will be made possible through<br />
2013 by a grant from the Dominion Foundation,<br />
the philanthropic arm of Dominion.<br />
“Each year during the holiday season<br />
Richmonders and out-of-towners alike enjoy<br />
going to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden for<br />
the spectacular GardenFest of Lights display,”<br />
William C. Hall Jr., a vice president of Dominion<br />
and president of The Dominion Foundation, said.<br />
“With this grant, The Dominion Foundation is<br />
pleased to continue this Richmond holiday tradition.”<br />
The light show has become one of Central<br />
Virginia’s favorite holiday events, with attendance<br />
growing from 8,500 in 1998 to more than 44,000<br />
in 2009. This year it will begin with a special<br />
guest turning on a giant “light switch” at 5:30<br />
p.m. Nov. 26, the night after Thanksgiving.<br />
Opening night will include hundreds of candle<br />
luminaries, ice sculpting demonstrations and,<br />
new this year, a “Fire & Ice” theme incorporating<br />
Glorious Glass in the Garden sculptures, with<br />
more lights than ever bringing illumination.<br />
More than 40 miles of light strands with<br />
approximately 700,000 bulbs are used this year.<br />
About half are LEDs (light emitting diodes)<br />
see LIGHTS, pg. 17