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Traffic stop leads to discovery of body
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Published: July 10, 2009
WYTHE COUNTY, Va.
When a Wythe County Sheriff's Deputy pulled over a speeding van on Interstate 77 early Thursday, the evidence against a North Carolina husband and wife quickly escalated from speeding to driving under the influence to a dead body.
Deputies found the body of an unidentified woman stuffed behind the back seat of the 2002 Ford Astro that Lisa Church Damron, 31, and Jerry Wayne Damron, 42, both of Taylorsville, N.C., were driving.
The woman had been shot multiple times and was wrapped in a blanket.
Officers also found three pistols in the van.
"They were in Wythe County no more than five minutes," Sheriff Douglas King said Thursday. "They came to the wrong place. You're drunk, speeding and you've got a dead body in the back of your van. That's certainly not rocket science."
Lisa Church Damron, the driver, is facing charges of felony transporting a dead body with malicious intent to prevent detection of an unlawful act, DUI and reckless driving, King said. Jerry Wayne Damron is charged with felony transporting a dead body with malicious intent to prevent detection of an unlawful act, possession of a firearm after conviction of a felony, three charges of having a concealed weapon, and felony assault on a police officer while he was being put into lock up.
King said the unidentified woman likely was killed in Taylorsville, N.C., and the Wythe County Sheriff's Office is working with the Taylorsville Police Department on the investigation. King said he expected the Taylorsville Police to charge the couple in relation to the woman's death by Thursday evening.
Wythe County deputies stopped the van, which had North Carolina tags, about 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the 33-mile marker of Interstate 77 – for traveling 85 mph in a 65 mph zone. The deputies said they noticed a odor of alcohol coming from the woman driving the van, and the passenger also appeared to be under the influence. Both were arrested, and as deputies prepared the vehicle to be towed just after 9 a.m., they found the body and the guns.
According to the Hickory Daily Record, Jerry Wayne Damron faced criminal charges in October 2008 after his 8-year-old son died and four other children were critically injured in a single-car wreck in Hickory. Six children between the ages of 2 and 10, and Damron's wife, Lisa Church Damron, were in the car when it spun out of control and plowed into a tree.
A clerk at the Catawba County, N.C., courthouse said Damron was charged with felony death by vehicle, DWI and reckless driving.
The body discovered Thursday was taken to Roanoke for an autopsy.
The Damrons are being held at the New River Valley Regional Jail in Dublin, Va.
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