Saturday, September 12, 2009
Task force to probe students' killings
The agencies will pool resources to investigate the Aug. 27 deaths of two Virginia Tech students.
The investigation: Ongoing coverage
Earlier coverage
- Hundreds mourn slain Lynchburg teens
- Police still chasing leads about Va. Tech student shootings
- Virginia Tech announces $10,000 reward for information about killings
- Funerals for Tech students set for Monday afternoon
- Police still seek leads in deaths of Tech students
- Few clues, many tears in deaths of Tech students
- Caldwell Fields neighbors did not hear shots
- Dan Casey: Neighbors shaken after meadow becomes killing field
- Police seek suspects in Virginia Tech students' killings
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Heidi Childs and David Metzler, seen here in a photo from her Facebook profile, were inseparable.
Statements
CHRISTIANSBURG -- Officers from local, state and federal law enforcement agencies have formed a task force to investigate the double homicide of two Virginia Tech students in Montgomery County.
David Metzler, 19, of Lynchburg and Heidi Childs, 18, of Forest were killed in a day-use area and parking lot at Caldwell Fields, a camping site in the Jefferson National Forest off Craig Creek Road.
Their bodies were found by a passer-by about 8 a.m. Aug. 27.
The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office has said they were shot.
The task force, which began work this week, is made up of officers from the sheriff's office; the Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Virginia Tech police departments; the Virginia State Police; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the U.S. Marshall's Office; and the U.S. Forest Service.
The sheriff's office remains the lead agency investigating the case.
"Bringing the various agencies who have already contributed to the investigation of this crime into one centralized location and group just makes good sense," Sheriff Tommy Whitt said in a news release Friday.
Lt. Norman Croy of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said the task force continues to follow up on leads in the case. No suspects or a suspect vehicle have been identified.
"We're looking at a number of different scenarios and people," he said. "Our main focus right now is catching this person or persons and bringing them to justice."
The sheriff's office has said Metzler and Childs were last heard from about 8:30 or 9 p.m. the night before they were found and that they were killed sometime between that night and the next morning.
Croy said Friday that their parents have said Metzler and Childs went to the site the night of Aug. 26 and only planned to stay a little while to talk, not to camp.
Virginia Tech is offering a $10,000 reward for information that helps solve the case.
