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Tracking cell phone usage helped lead the Clifton Forge Police Department about 9:30 p.m. Friday night to a 19-year-old man now charged with murder in North Carolina and to a woman’s body in a parked car’s trunk.

Police Chief Barry Balser said Saturday that the department received a be-on-the-lookout teletype around 4 p.m. Friday from the police department in Kitty Hawk. The alert cited a car, a 1996 Ford Mustang, a temporary tag number and described a man the North Carolina authorities said was a person of interest in a homicide case, he said.

Balser said a follow-up alert received around 8 p.m. reported that the suspect’s cell phone had twice “pinged” towers and showed the caller’s location as Clifton Forge.

“Officers went out looking for the vehicle,” Balser said. “One officer went up Commercial and saw the car parked at the corner of Commercial and Church.”

The officer verified the tag number. No one was in sight. Balser said the officer was directed to keep watch on the car and that about an hour later, around 9:30 p.m., the officer spotted a man returning to the Mustang. Police moved in and handcuffed the suspect, identified as Enrico Luciano Mascaro, whom police believe is originally from Chicago.

Around 10 p.m. police returned to the vehicle with a search warrant and found a woman dead in the vehicle’s trunk. Balser said her body has gone to the state medical examiner’s officer to determine cause of death. Her name has not been released, he said.

The man is being held in Alleghany County Regional Jail for North Carolina as a fugitive from justice, Balser said.

A call to the police department in Nags Head for additional information has not yet been returned.

— Duncan Adams | The Roanoke Times

The victims of an early morning burglary killed the suspect after he entered their Roanoke home, police said.

Officers responded just after 1:30 a.m. to a residence in the 2700 block of Brandon Avenue Southwest for a report of a burglary, police spokeswoman Aisha Johnson said in a news release. They arrived to find an adult male who had been injured, she said.

The man was taken by ambulance to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead, Johnson said.

Detectives believe the man “entered the residence unlawfully and was confronted by the individuals who live there,” Johnson said. He was then injured during a fight with one of the residents, she said.

Johnson did not say how the man died.

Officers are still working to determine the man’s name, she said. No charges have been filed.

- Jordan Fifer | The Roanoke Times

A man died in an early morning single car crash today on Roanoke’s Avenham Avenue S.W., according to police.

The car, traveling north, jumped a curb at the Avenham’s intersection with White Oak Road and struck several trees.

Police responded to the scene at about 3 a.m.

The man, of Roanoke, was the only person in the vehicle. The victim was pronounced dead at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, according to a police news release.

An investigation continues and the man’s name will be released when his next of kin is notified, according to the release.

-  The Roanoke Times

The waters have receeded, but interest in Thursday’s flooding remains high. Laura Tucker shares this photo gallery of flooding around Salem — which also includes a video.

You can view her photos in the slideshow above or in this gallery format.

OTHER FLOODING UPDATES FROM SALEM:
* All streets in Salem now open
* Video of rising floodwaters in Salem
* Two videos (and more photos) of flooding in Salem
* Curtis Howell shares flood photos from Salem
* Mike Stevens shares photos of flooding on Mill Lane
* The Krzyskos share photos of flooding around Salem

Mike Stevens from the City of Salem sends the following news:

Crews from the Streets and Maintenance Department came in at 3am this morning and were able to get all of the debris and mud cleared along Mill Lane and Riverside Dr.

As a result, all streets in Salem are now clear and open, including the Mill Lane Bridge.

OTHER FLOODING UPDATES FROM SALEM:
* Video of rising floodwaters in Salem
* Two videos (and more photos) of flooding in Salem
* Curtis Howell shares flood photos from Salem
* Mike Stevens shares photos of flooding on Mill Lane
* The Krzyskos share photos of flooding around Salem
* Sump pumps are big sellers in Salem today
* Colorado Street Bridge is open
* Riverside Trailer Park residents being evacuated
* Salem schools will close two hours early
* Flood warning in effect for Salem and Roanoke County

RICHMOND – With Virginia flooding and under an emergency declaration, Gov. Tim Kaine headlined a private Democratic fundraiser Thursday in Arkansas.

Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, appeared with Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe at a private $250-per-ticket luncheon at a home in Little Rock.

Kaine had left the state before steady, wind-whipped rains from the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida combined with a nor’easter began flooding the southern, central and coastal areas of the state Wednesday afternoon.

He was in Memphis, Tenn., when he declared a state of emergency for Virginia on Wednesday night, putting government agencies on alert to respond to damage from the storm, said communications director Lynda Tran.

Widespread flooding was reported in Norfolk, Virginia Beach and other areas exposed to the Atlantic Coast and lower Chesapeake Bay or its tributaries. The Dan River at Danville was predicted to crest Thursday night or early Friday nearly 10 feet above flood stage.

Kaine was scheduled to return to Richmond Thursday night, meet with emergency officials Friday morning at the Emergency Operations Center, then tour storm-damaged areas in south central and Tidewater areas of the state, Tran said.

“He’s in constant contact with his chief of staff and with his emergency management people,” said press secretary Gordon Hickey. “He’s very well informed of what’s going on.”

Hickey said there was little the governor could do until the storm subsides and the flooding recedes.

Republicans, who assailed Kaine throughout this year’s elections for governor and other statewide races and House of Delegates seats, said Kaine’s absence amounted to “political dereliction.”

“It’s clear who his taskmasters are, and it’s not the people of Virginia,” said Tim Murtaugh, spokesman for the Republican Party of Virginia.

Kaine leaves office Jan. 16, the only governor in the nation barred by his state from seeking re-election to a second term. Republican Bob McDonnell was elected in a landslide last week to succeed Kaine.

Initially, neither the governor’s office nor DNC officials would disclose Kaine’s whereabouts, citing a long-standing precedent Virginia governors have invoked for decades of not divulging travel itineraries because of security concerns.

State and party officials confirmed Kaine’s Arkansas fundraising stop, however, after The Associated Press found details about it on the DNC’s Web site.

Reporters were not allowed into the Little Rock event.

– Associated Press

Here are more photos from around Salem showing the soggy mess that the remnants of Ida have created on Mill Lane and Riverside Drive. (You can view them in the slideshow above or in this gallery format; the videos are in the middle of the set.)

These come from Miranda Adkins, community journalist for our Salem community news weekly. She has more details on the flooding on our Salem news site.

OTHER FLOOD PHOTOS FROM SALEM:
* Curtis Howell shares flood photos from Salem
* Mike Stevens shares photos of flooding on Mill Lane
* The Krzyskos share photos of flooding around Salem

OTHER FLOOD PHOTOS FROM SALEM:
* Mike Stevens shares photos of flooding on Mill Lane
* The Krzyskos share photos of flooding around Salem

William Fleming’s Northwest Region Division 5 football playoff game against Brooke Point scheduled for Friday has been postponed by rain.

The game has been rescheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday at a new location, Liberty-Bealeton High School, which has an artificial playing surface.

Franklin County’s Division 6 playoff game against Colonial Forge also will be played at Saturday at Liberty-Bealeton, beginning at noon.

A third game also will be played Saturday at Liberty-Bealeton between George Washington and Osbourn.

The Region C Division 2 playoff game between Giles and Radford at Radford High School has been moved from Friday to 7 p.m. Saturday.

Alleghany’s Region III Division 3 playoff game against Brookville will be played Friday night as scheduled, but the game has been moved to Amherst County High School in Amherst.

– Robert Anderson

Living along the Roanoke River has its price, but Brian and Katrina Carney say most of the time, the perks outweigh everything else.

The couple just moved to Lafayette in eastern Montgomery County about a year ago after moving to Virginia from Chicago two years earlier.

They own a section of land just near the confluence of the North and South forks of the river with their four horses and two Newfoundland dogs.

Because of the flooded banks — the river was probably about eight feet high — today’s goal was to keep an eye on the fence, and to make sure the river’s overflowing water didn’t bring it down. Read more »