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Culpeper investigators looking for possible link between death of woman there and slayings in Richmond. Date published: 1/10/2006
Culpeper County sheriff's investigators are trying to determine whether there is a connection between the slayings of two Richmond families last week and the Dec. 18 death of Sheryl Ann Embrey Warner.
Sheriff's Maj. Jim Branch said yesterday that his office contacted Richmond police soon after Ray Joseph Dandridge and Ricky Gray were arrested in Philadelphia Saturday in connection with the brutal deaths of five adults and two children in the capital city. "Right now it is too early to tell if there is a connection, but certainly it is being looked at," Branch said. Richmond investigators have said they have evidence linking Dandridge and Gray, both 28, to the slayings of two families there and are looking into the possibility that the pair may be involved with similar crimes elsewhere. "Right now we are looking at the possibility and probability of a connection [to Warner's death]," Branch said. "We will try to focus and narrow any connection and then check the finer details if the investigation leads us in that direction." Branch said DNA evidence collected at Warner's home would be compared to DNA evidence collected by Richmond police if necessary. Warner was found hanging from an extension cord in the basement of her James Monroe Highway home about 30 minutes after she reportedly ended a telephone conversation with her father by saying a man claiming to have car trouble was at the door. The 37-year-old legal secretary, who was home alone, had been shot in the head with a small-caliber bullet and her home had been set on fire. The Sheriff's Office has not released a cause of death, but court documents state that Warner's lungs contained no smoke. Sources close to the investigation say the Sheriff's Office and state police have had few leads. In the Richmond slayings, the victims were all bound with tape and their throats were cut, police spokeswoman Cynthia Price said. The bodies of Percyell Tucker, 55; his wife, Mary Tucker, 47; and her daughter, Ashley Baskerville, 21, were found in their ransacked Richmond home Friday.
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