The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 37

7171rgro01110Irw-woor4wwmoow 37 17- eeJoi Irth frolina Cht Charlotte Observer Saturday December 13 1986 Section 0 1 2 Bodies Discovered In Trailer Motive Sought In Slayings Scotland Officers Call Case Murder-Suicide trioman Charged Remains In Hospital t'- 1 ti: '-fy'''e ''tii1 il 1 'Ttf -'f i i 1 i 1 f- --t -0 eft: Ns 1 -it 0 i 7" 1 1 6 11: 't a '4 7 4 tg- 1 rt -4-: 'k A 3 ii: 4 o'l 1-' lei'''' i A 4 3 :4 fi A It 1- gr tii-4e i 2i' i :4:::::: 4 1 'k40 soie 3 0 1 At -k 0S- 4 4 J' 'I -''lt )01 '4' i4 4:: 1teretel 4 fr -1 e'''' '4)': tt6 C' '''7 'tr i4" ''V t1' 'i'''' 17:: 1: '''i 1 oi i1 1 1 '1 1 :::1 7 :1 1 ''7 v- 41 i i 7z1 s- -r: 7 4ie kit 11 ork 4 i i y- (:: 41t4 fe77: 'A'71'' '4' 7t) '1 i 1410itr Ir 4 1v41 7 i 1 'f---4 'p -i- 1 4T: i I- '1ei 114 "it I 11 -t- -2-- -t- J' 1 tt t7)- 'it 4 '(: -i-1''''' '4: I 1 4 OW -e --4--: 4 hi A 7' 'f 17 3 i 1 44Awari' 4 2 oC: t' -r i 1 :1:: i -4-- i' i': 4440tikk: 'V'' 4 ''''''f': l'''''1- 7' -P' '1 '1! '0''' '1: 4' 41Ft -'2i 'Nib- 1 0014001001W -04-'N 4 l'''' kis14' i By KEN SOO Gastonia Sumo RUTHERFORDTON A Rutherford County woman charged with killing her husband and son as they slept remained hospitalized in serious condition Friday as authorities searched for a motive Wanda Shytle 42 was at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center after suffering a gunshot wound to the head Authorities believe Shytle shot herself after shooting her husband and two children early Thursday Ray Shytle 45 and Eric Shytle 11 both died of single gunshot wounds to the head Wanda Shytle's daughter Ronda Shytle 15 was released from Rutherford Hospital on Friday She was treated for a superficial gunshot Wound to the face Wanda Shytle was charged with first-degree murder in the two deaths and assault in her daughter's injury The Rutherford County Sheriff's Department Friday continued investigating the shootings "We're trying to tie up things trying to establish a motive for the court" said Chief Deputy Gene "Pat" Patterson "We've got to be able to lay out as good a case as we can to do justice to the victims" The gunshots "appeared to be at fairly close-range within 12 Inches" County Coroner Horton Landreth said adding that examiners found no signs of struggle Joint funeral services will be held at 2 pm Sunday at Spencer Baptist Church in Spindale Friends knew of no reason Wanda Shytie would hurt her family They described her as a talented baker and painter Wanda Shytle was a band booster who often volunteered time at her son's elementary school school officials said By LISA PULLEN Sta writer Friday morning two Springs Industries co-workers of Marguritte Anne Montague stopped by her mobile home 5 miles southwest of LaurInburg to see if she was all right She wasn't They entered the unlocked back door of the white green-trimmed mobile home at the Leisure Living Trailer Park to find Montague 42 and Joyce Virginia Caskey lying face down almost head-to-head between the living room and kitchen Both were dead and apparently had been for four days Police say the two women who had shared the trailer for seven or eight years were involved in a murder-suicide that apparently took place Tuesday morning That's the last time anyone reported contact with them That morning Caskey 52 and unemployed had called a friend to talk Later in the morning the friend called back The telephone was busy It stayed busy for several days Caskey had given her friend no indication of trouble At the same time Montague's co-workers noticed her missing from her job as a loom fixer at Springs They called police after finding the pair Friday morning Scotland County chief Detective Garland Patterson would give few details Friday pending an autopsy report today Police he said aren't sure who shot whom but believe it was a murder-suicide because the apparent weapon a handgun was found lying nearby There were no signs of entry or of theft or even of an argument He would not detail the wounds of each except to say both apparently died of bullet wounds He said Caskey was dressed and Montague was partly dressed "I'd rather not say who shot who until we get something from the autopsy report" he said Autopsy results are expected today and ballistics reports are due next week Staff Photo By DAVIE HINSHAW Frank Capps with his daughter Susan: 'She's been through so much' Woman's Triumph Touches Doctors Nurses She lies silently In Charlotte Memorial Hospital's Respiratory Inf '1 tensive Care Unit blonde 41 V' hair spilling over the pil- 'f low ett ift Tubes run up her nose 1 44414 down her throat into her abdomen Machines mon'75 71 itor her vital functions 11 1 Susan Capps cannot ji breathe without a respirator She cannot speak struggles to mouth words around her tubes Yet her story is of tri- umph Six weeks ago this 20-year-old woman was hospital with a massive given almost no chance to Her continued improvement has stunned Susan's doctors and nurses And her determination her refusal to conform to the statistical expectations has touched them deeply "Simply put Susan should not have lived" says Dr Paul Sasser a third-year resident and Susan's attending physician "Her prognosis was less than a 10 chance of survival Now it's significantly above 50 and I'm pretty sure she'll survive She might even get out by Christmas" Sasser smiles noting that along the grim corridors of intensive care where my father died three weeks ago happy endings come too rarely "Her case is very unusual" he says "But then Susan is a very unusual person" It was another doctor Jessica Schorr Saxe a teacher in Memorial's family practice program who called me about Susan "Virtually everything was wrong with her" Saxe said "The fact that she's still alive is a triumph for everyone involved" The respiratory intensive care staff deserves a lot of credit Saxe says "There's been a different hero in this story every week" she says "But" she adds "this isn't so much a tribute to modern medicine It's a tribute to what love and the will to live can do" For Susan that will is grounded in a lifelong struggle against handicaps She was born with an opening in her spine from which the spinal cord protruded a grave condition that causes paralysis hydrocephalus even death Susan was paralyzed from the waist down She had to have fluid drained from her brain to prevent retardation She spent her first 18 months in Belmont's Holy Angels See WOMAN'S Next Page Polly Paddock 'oily 3addock 11 admitted to the infection She was mitted to the rection She was live The Associated Press to this article 4414 1 20 Million Gilt To Help Duke ecruit Scholars Official Says Deane pledged the money on the condition that the university match the grant dollar for dollar from other sources The university will recruit professors and establish the institute as matching money becomes available Professors will be recruited from outside the university Duke officials said The research institute will examine the problems of mankind in a rapidly changing technological society Duke officials said In a prepared statement Deane said he pledged the money because of his concern over the impact of technology and nuclear arms development "Mankind has brought himself to the threshold of either a new golden age of fulfillment or to extinction for all" he said By BARBARA BARNETT Staff Mita' A New York financier's $20 million pledge to Duke University the second largest gift in the school's history will boost Duke's ability to recruit top scholars a university official said "This is an extraordinarily significant gift" said Joel Fleishman university vice president "We can go anywhere in the country or the world for that matter and court the most distinguished scholars" University President Keith Brodie said the "landmark gift will help assure Duke's place among the nation's leading research universities" The money was a gift from Disque Deane chairman and chief executive officer of Corporate Property Investors a real estate investment firm Deane's contribution announced Thursday is the largest to the school since James Duke's endowment in 1924 of $40 million which helped establish the university and the Duke Endowment The university was named for Duke's father Washington Duke The money will be used to establish 20 distinguished professorships in the sciences and humanities And it will also be used to create a "research institute on the human future" "This is the largest number of endowed professorships the university has ever been given" said Fleishman who is chairing Duke's five-year campaign to raise $200 million for the arts and sciences "Prior to the capital campaign there were only six fully endowed professorships in the entire arts and sciences and engineering in Duke University" A San Diego native Deane attended Duke in the 1930s and 1940s and is a university trustee Three of his four children graduated from the university Deane also is a partner is Lazard Freres Co a New York investment firm 4th Suspect Arrested In Slaying Of Man Shooting Of Woman Man Gets 20 Years In Strangling Hensley was in satisfactory condition in a guarded room at Rowan Memorial Hospital Friday night Three other High Point persons including a husband and wife have been arrested in connection with the slaying Randy Lee Scott 31 Brenda Berrier Scott 31 and Morris McClain Andrews 23 all have been charged with Grade's murder They are being held without bond Chief Deputy Tim Bost would say little about Morgan's capture or his alleged connection citing a continuing investigation But he did say that Morgan knew the three persons previously arrested and that information from various sources had led to his arrest Police have said the shooting appeared to be drug related The Scotts told authorities that Hensley had lived with them for some time and had taken some money When police searched the Scotts's mobile home behind Andrews's house they found about 12 to 15 rifles six to eight pistols and about $2000 in cocaine Valium and marijuana By LISA PULLEN Staff Writer Rowan County authorities arrested a fourth person early Friday in connection with the execution-style slaying of a Rowan County man earlier in the week and the shooting of his girlfriend Harold William Morgan 34 of High Point was arrested about 1 am at an apartment in High Point He was charged with murder and with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and inflicting serious injury He is being held without bond in the Rowan County Jail Gary Grade 28 was shot at close range In the left temple early Tuesday His body was found lying in the living room of his brick ranch house 6 miles south of Salisbury with his face buried in a pillow and his hands tied behind him with duct tape His girlfriend Cindy Beck Hensley 25 had been shot in the mouth with a 22-caliber gun She survived by playing dead and running to a house next door for help when the perpetrators left (1' -i i'''0: :::11 4 1 4s17 -7 i 1 i- 1 vs" 1 rf1 ---) 7 "1 '-1tv i trio' 1::: 4 1-1 000040 J1: ::1: :7 i' 1:141 5 i i-t4 1 :1 t- 1 )- 1::: 0- :3 i-- 4 -7- 1 c-r f- -cl--''-: i'-i t---' 2 is i i 1 -7 I tr'' 4 i' i 1 1 0- ''T 4 PTL9s Christmas City Draws Crowds By KEN SOO Gastonia Butvau GASTONIA Ricky Simonds was convicted of voluntary manslaughter Thursday and sentenced to 20 years in prison for strangling the woman he loved in a fit of passion Simonds was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Donna Miller 24 who was found strangled Jan 27 in a Bessemer City mobile home she sometimes shared with Simonds A Gaston County jury convicted Simonds 27 of the lesser charge after defense attorney Chip ClonInger argued his client never intended to kill Miller Cloninger said Simonds was distraught over the couple's recent breakup his father's death and business problems Simonds testified he went to the mobile home the morning of Miller's death in an attempt to renew their relationship but became enraged when she threatened to have him removed by police Simonds grabbed Miller by the neck and threw her to a bed Simonds claimed he choked Miller for less than a minute and stopped when he realized she was hurt Simonds tried to revive Miller and was overwhelmed by remorse when he failed he told the Jury Prosecution evidence included two notes Simonds wrote after strangling Miller One note said "Donna killed me so I killed Donna" a police officer testified Immediately after killing Miller Simonds took an overdose of anti-depression medication he testified Simonds was hospitalized for four days because of the drug overdose Thousands Flock To Display nativity scene at the park's entrance All that glitter is getting the attention of the national media and is expected to draw 1 million people to Heritage USA before Christmas "Christmas City at Heritage USA was featured in November on the 'CBS Morning News' and ABC's 'Good Morning America' said PTL spokesman Neil Eskelin "Last Saturday night on the NBC 'Nightly News' it was featured" he said Also the display will be in an upcoming issue of USA Today and on "PM Magazine" on Christmas Eve "That means it attracted the attention of millions more people" Eskelin said "The networks and the nation are taking great notice of what we're doing" The display was named one of the top 20 events for 1985 and 1986 by the Southeast Tourism Society And it's listed as one of the American Bus Association's top 100 events in North America for 1986 and 1987 Eskelin speculates the Heritage USA light display See THOUSANDS Next Page By LINDA BROWN Rock HMI Bureau FORT MILL SC For Wanatah Ind resident Jyll Garzella the Heritage USA display was unbelievable "We decorate our house real big and everything but here it's like everything is decorated everywhere you walk" she said Friday Garzella is among the thousands who've traveled across the country and clogged traffic for local residents to view the 15 million lights that bathe Heritage USA's Christmas displays in a rainbow of colors There are red green blue and yellow lights along streets with names such as "Candy Cane Lane" "Gingerbread Village" and "Angel Boulevard" A new attraction this year is a floating light display on Lake Heritage with themes such as "Noah's Ark" and "Jonah and the Whale" There are Christmas cards snowmen and ice cream sundaes that stand 6 feet tall and a lighted life-size Photo By MIKE GREENE To Jail: Ricky Simonds (left) is led to jail by Sgt Chisholm of the Gaston County Sheriff's Department after Simonds was sentenied to 20 years in prison.