Cleaning up Caroline County one ten POSs at a time.

Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Authorities in Caroline County arrested a ninth suspect yesterday on a charge of murder by mob.

He is the fifth male juvenile to be charged in the Nov. 10 shooting of Raquel Hunter, 16. Four adults were charged, too.

Until this week, only Lashawn Montque Monroe, 23, of Ruther Glen had been arrested in Hunter’s death. He was charged soon after the killing with murder and use of a firearm in a felony.

This week, authorities charged Monroe, along with three other adults and five minors, with murder by mob, or lynching.

A law addressing lynching has been on the books in Virginia since 1928. Under Virginia law, lynching means any act of violence by a mob on another person that results in the death of that person.

Virginia law defines a mob as a group of people “assembled for the purpose and with the intention of committing an assault or a battery upon any person or an act of violence . . . without authority of law.”

Caroline Commonwealth’s Attorney Anthony G. “Tony” Spencer said yesterday that he plans to drop the first two charges against Monroe and focus prosecution on the mob charge.

Hunter was shot in the head as a birthday party was ending for another 16-year-old. His body was found on the ground outside the Madison Ruritan Club in Ladysmith.

Spencer said yesterday that a person does not have to physically harm someone to be guilty of murder by mob.

[…]

Along with Monroe, the following three adults were charged with murder by mob: Antoine Johnson, 18; Dwight Leo Smith II, 19; and Deon Alexander Terrell, 19.

All nine defendants are from Caroline.

And from the AP:

Virginia State Police say they have arrested a man accused of murdering his wife in 1995.

Police say 44-year-old Lawrence Peter Gaudenzi of Timberville was arrested without incident during a traffic stop Friday afternoon in Shenandoah County.

Sergeant Thomas A. Cunningham Junior said Gaudenzi initially reported his 31-year-old wife, Lisa Kathy Gaudenzi, missing to authorities in Caroline County, where the couple lived. State police became involved in the case in 1997 and recently discovered crucial information that was presented to a grand jury in Caroline, which returned a murder indictment.

More from The Free Lance–Star:

According to state police, Spencer recently presented evidence to a special grand jury, which then returned the indictment for murder.

[…]

Lisa Gaudenzi, who was last seen with Lawrence Gaudenzi Jan. 26, 1995 in Ruther Glen, was reported missing when she never showed up for scheduled officer training school with the Army.

Originally, the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office handled the case, but the state police began investigating in 1997.

Joe Marto, Lisa Gaudenzi’s father, said he’s overwhelmed at the news.

“It’s a great feeling after all this time to know that I’ll get a good night’s sleep tonight,” he said. “You don’t know what a feeling it is.”

Marto said he always knew the day would come that Lawrence Gaundenzi would be arrested, but when he finally got that phone call today, he started crying tears of happiness.

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