VA VA - David Metzler, 19, & Heidi Childs, 18, fatally shot, Montgomery Co, 26 Aug 2009

[neverletgo]

Virginia Tech students murder task force reveals murder weapon, DNA evidence
Posted: Thursday, March 29, 2012 3:07 pm | Updated: 6:25 pm, Tue Jan 29, 2013.
WSLS-TV Staff Reports

Snipped:

Montgomery County Sheriff Tommy Whitt, who heads up the task force, says the murder weapon was a 30-30 caliber rifle. This is the first time that investigators had revealed the weapon used to kill the couple.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/v...cle_3902ecac-38cb-592e-8bce-7487e4e6437c.html

 

[neverletgo]

Photo of Heidi Childs' purse, which the task force says was taken from the murder scene

Photo of Heidi Childs' Motoroloa RAZR cell phone, which was in her purse the night of the murder

Photo of Heidi Childs' digital camera, which the task force says was in her purse the night of the murder

Picture of Heidi Childs' Virginia Tech lanyard, which task force says was in her purse on night of murder

http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/v...cle_3902ecac-38cb-592e-8bce-7487e4e6437c.html

 

[neverletgo]

Metzler/Childs Murders Remain Unsolved
Posted: Aug 26, 2012 5:21 PM CDT
Reporter: Parker Slaybaugh

Snipped:

As you may remember, in 2009 investigators found Metzler's body slumped over in a car. They found his girlfriend, Heidi Childs, on the ground a few feet in front of the vehicle.

http://www.wset.com/story/19380116/metzlerchilds-murders-remains-unsolved

 

[neverletgo]

There are 17 photos at this link:



http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...tzler-murders-20120329,0,1464830.photogallery

 

[neverletgo]

Montgomery County authorities are still taking tips in the 2009 killings of a young couple
By Shawna Morrison

Snipped:

Childs and Metzler had been a couple for about four years, according to their families.

Metzler, the youngest of four children, had graduated from Brookville High School. Childs, the fourth of eight children, was home schooled.

Investigators have said they were last seen about 8 p.m. Aug. 26 at Childs' apartment in Blacksburg, where she had just moved with five friends.

http://ww2.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/297230/

 

[:+:MrTT:+:]

I have been looking, but have not seen the guitars were still there?

#4 - Dark colored Ford Crown Victoria or Chevrolet Caprice sedan: Seen driving on Craig Creek Road around 10:00 p.m. on night of the murders

This is like a police car.


He was shot first, she got out to run and was shot where she was found I would guess.
A rifle not a handgun. That is interesting. rifle a lot harder to hide than a handgun.

i dont believe though guessing this was a robbery. More like a thrill kill. I would ask the public if any parents had recently, within the past year if they bought there child or relative a 3030 rifle. 30 odd 6 is what we call them.

 

[laughin]

Craig Creek Road is a long, rural road. It goes between Montgomery and Craig Counties. The area Heidi and David were found is a popular camping area. Because of it's rural nature, it would not be hard to go in there with a rifle and not be seen. There is also a outdoor, state-run shooting range on that road.

When I first heard about this, I was thinking maybe some hunter or poacher accidentally shot someone. But it doesn't sound that way. I agree with the thrill kill aspect. From what I have read about these kids, they were good and didn't have any sort of enemy. They would know if someone followed them there.

I am new, and am not sure of the rules, so delete this if it is inappropriate to say, but I know there was a little bit of a shake up with some in the sheriff's department after this. I don't know if it from mishandling or just regular grumbling.

 

[Pettibon Junction]

Young couple killed at random in a park in Virginia. Despite the use of a gun as the murder weapon and the bodies being left in-situ, there are echoes of the Colonial Parkway murders in this crime.

 

[laughin]

Young couple killed at random in a park in Virginia. Despite the use of a gun as the murder weapon and the bodies being left in-situ, there are echoes of the Colonial Parkway murders in this crime.

I had a similar thought, but the areas are so far from each other.

 

[Pettibon Junction]

Given the victims and crime scene, it's hard not to think of the Parkway killer.

Still, the differences are huge. The distance isn't so much of a factor as the use of a gun and the fact that bodies were left at the scene. In the known murders, the Parkway killer almost always abducted his victims and preferred a knife for the killing itself. (If a gun was involved, it was strictly for control purposes.)

I'm not sure I buy the robbery motive. Unless I'm missing something, it seems that while Heidi's purse was taken from the scene, David's wallet wasn't. Further, he was summarily executed in the car while she was killed outside and the presence of DNA, depending on the type, might suggest that this was a different sort of crime altogether.

 

[laughin]

If it were robbery, I doubt they would have killed them. With the one major exception, the murders in our area, as few as they are, are personal/domestic. I cannot remember one that was a robbery gone bad. Not ruling it out but maybe Heidi's purse was taken as an afterthought to make it look like robbery?

At first, I thought maybe it was a hunter that had accidentally shot one of the students and then covered it up.

Was Heidi assaulted? Was someone after David?

 

[Pettibon Junction]

At first, I thought maybe it was a hunter that had accidentally shot one of the students and then covered it up.

Was Heidi assaulted? Was someone after David?

The murder weapon might suggest that, but night hunting in a national park? highly illegal. And David was found behind the wheel. It's hard to believe that anyone would mistake a car for a deer and certainly, no one who's in the habit of poaching wildlife after dark would have eyesight that terrible.

This was no hunting accident and robbery was not the primary motive. Whoever did this set out with the specific intent to kill someone but until we know exactly what the extent of the DNA evidence was, it's hard to say for certain.

 

[laughin]

I knew a guy who responded to the scene. It shook him up. I know MontCo SO has not given up.

I know night hunting isn't legal, that is just what I thought of when I first heard about the shooting.

It hit our area really hard, because just two months later, Morgan Harrington went missing.

 

[Pettibon Junction]

I know night hunting isn't legal, that is just what I thought of when I first heard about the shooting.

And there might be something to it. The murder weapon was a rifle, and a pretty common one, at that. If he'd gotten caught driving around with it, it wouldn't arouse nearly as much suspicion as a handgun would, even after dark. As you wrote in an earlier post, people hunt in those woods, and there was a range nearby to boot. Not to mention, rifle permits are easier to come by. Odds are, the murder weapon was legally acquired and the killer a recreational hunter or shooter.

I can only imagine how hard this hit the community, especially with the VA Tech shooting still fresh in recent memory...

 

[Kell1]

I have a bad feeling about this one ...this doesn't have that "one off" feeling ....

Any information on how far away the shooter was to the victims?

 

[Kell1]

From just the small amount of info here, it appears this is a predator, unless this is a case, of someone with a vendetta of some type .

 

[laughin]

I have a bad feeling about this one ...this doesn't have that "one off" feeling ....

Any information on how far away the shooter was to the victims?

Don't know. He was in the car and she was running.

I read this today which is interesting:

Heidi had been on a “surprise” date with her boyfriend, David, the evening before. Perhaps she’d had an early appointment and left before we were up. Maybe she had stayed with David? It didn’t seem likely.

Soon we were desperately phoning Heidi’s cell over and over. Her bubbly voice answered, asking us to leave a message. The phone had died. David’s had, too.

His roommates called Anne, wondering if we knew anything about David’s whereabouts. Car crash loomed in our minds. David’s roommate explained that he had taken Heidi up to the Caldwell Fields Park in the Jefferson Forest. He planned on building a bonfire and playing guitar.

http://www.xojane.com/it-happened-t...-boyfriend-were-victims-in-an-unsolved-murder

It sounds like IF it was not random, it would be someone who knew what David was doing since it was a surprise.

 

[Kell1]

A victimology assessment needs to be done on BOTH individuals,

Id be interested in finding out if he or she were involved with anyone else romantically or professionally, did they have any issues with anyone, any enemies, any odd occurrences, experienced, by either prior to the murder.

That could be immediately as well if perhaps they got into an argument

Bringing a hunting rifle into an area where there is no hunting allowed, and posted I believe, means whomever brought it most likely brought it to kill "someone".

Do we know approximately what time of day they were killed ?

 

[Pettibon Junction]

If this is a predator, the location and type of victims was more important than the actual human beings themselves. Nothing I've seen about this crime scene makes me believe the killer was in any way acquainted with David or Heidi. Rather, he set out looking for a young couple to gun down and found exactly that in a secluded camping/parking site.

Still, with the college nearby, this could still have been a student. I'd be looking for someone within that age range and VA Tech would be the logical place to start.

 

[Kell1]

Always start with the victims, and work out

Often, you find sometimes, you find something surrounding the victims, that leads to a suspect. Ive posted several victimology assessments on here . Once those questions are answered, then you go on from there ...at the scene witnesses, did anyone see anything odd that day did anyone hear anything, you get the forensic evidence, how close or how far away was the shooter, any shell casings? a 30-30 is often a lever action rifle, did the killer take the spent casings with him?, if not were any prints lifted ?. from the shells, the car, victims, check both their cell phone records, did either call anyone prior to the murder. Who knew where they were going ?

Did either have any enemies, were there any arguments or disagreements, prior to ? any jealous Ex's ? things like that , any drug use, was either in debt to anyone ? Did anyone see anyone in the area around the time, ?

In terms of behavior if this isn't proven to be someone involved, in any way with the victims , then were they approached, or were they shot from a distance, it appears, the female was shot attempting to flee.

If that's the case, then the male was most likely shot 1st, the drivers side window was partially down, did anyone see any police vehicles, in the area, at the time, or what looked like an unmarked at that time . I believe some of the Colonial parkway murder, victims, had their windows partially down as well (at least 1 did ).


Items were taken from the female but not the male, the car was still there so that rules out robbery, and or carjacking as a primary motive , and though theres a strong possibility this IS a predatory attack you cannot jump past the victims, to prove a theory.