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From today's Roanoke Times:

"They were great people, wonderful students, they loved life and had great friendships, and most of all they loved the Lord." -- Jeff Highfield, Campus Crusade for Christ at Virginia Tech

• Few clues, many tears in deaths of Virginia Tech students: Those who knew Heidi Childs and David Metzler say they led exemplary lives
• From the investigation: Neighbors did not hear shots
• Metro columnist Dan Casey: Neighbors shaken after meadow becomes killing field

Follow the investigation here as it unfolds.

According to the website of Lynchburg's Heritage Baptist Church, funeral arrangements have been made for Heidi Childs and David Metzler, Virginia Tech students from the Lynchburg area who were found apparently shot to death in the Caldwell Fields section of Jefferson National Forest Thursday morning.

A viewing for Heidi Childs will be held Sunday, Aug. 30, at Tharp Funeral Home between 3 and 6 p.m. Her funeral will be held in the Heritage Baptist Church worship center the following day at 3 p.m. [obituary | guest book]

A viewing for David Metzler will be held between 3 and 6 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30, in the chapel of Heritage Baptist Church. His funeral will be held the next day -- Monday, Aug. 31 -- Heritage Baptist Church's worship center at 1 p.m.  [obituary |  guest book]

On Friday night at Lynchburg's Heritage Baptist Church, about 80 friends and family members talked informally about David Metzler and Heidi Childs in the same room where the two had played the guitar and sung many times.

Will Honeycutt, who taught a young adult Bible study class that the two attended this summer, said the whole church community was grieving.

"We are a family, and when one member suffers, we all suffer," he said. "It wasn't only a loss for their parents, it was a loss for all of us."

-- Jorge Valencia

Virginia Tech students pass by a wreath laid for David Metzler and Heidi Childs at the war memorial on the Virginia Tech campus Friday afternoon. Photo by Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech students who knew David Metzler and Heidi Childs are heartbroken by their deaths and remember the couple as caring people who were committed to their faith in Christ, said Jeff Highfield, director of Campus Crusade for Christ at Tech on Friday afternoon.

About 100 people attended an impromptu, student-led memorial service for Metzler and Childs on Friday afternoon outside the War Memorial Chapel on the Drillfield.

Highfield said both of the students were involved in the Campus Crusade for Christ ministry and most of the students at the memorial are also in the organization.

"They're still somber, sad and grieving the loss of their friends," he said about the crowd.

The 45-minute gathering included prayers and singing, including the hymn "It Is Well with My Soul," and some sharing of stories about Metzler and Childs, said Highfield, who attended the service.

"They were great, sweet, kind, loving and caring. Both of them loved Jesus deeply," he said about the two students. "They're just loved by a lot of people."

Highfield said he knew Metzler and had met Childs. Metzler was a leader of a small group Bible study for freshmen this year.

Highfield said the two students were known for living out their faith in Christ, and people looked up to them. "We can grieve because we miss our friends but we know that they're with Jesus," he said.

-- Sharla Bardin

Heidi Childs and David Metzler pose together in a photo from Childs' Facebook page.

The Rev. Gerald Kroll, pastor of Heritage Baptist Church where the Metzler and Childs families attended, said church members have been hit hard by the deaths of the two teenagers. “Everybody’s pretty emotional right now, because it tears us up. They were both godly young people. They were the cream of the crop.”

Sarah Baker, who now lives in Tennessee but was in Youth Group with Metzler and Childs at Heritage Baptist, described them both as role models. “She was wonderful, one of those innocent, shining stars that give you hope for the next generation. And David was very honest and helpful. He was following in his father’s footsteps as a man of integrity.”

“She was very bubbly, very vivacious and full of life,” said longtime friend Nicole Settje. “And he was an all-around nice guy. He was just a sweetheart who loved everyone and would let you know he loved you."

-- Rex Bowman

Investigators search for more clues near flowers placed as a memorial at Caldwell Fields in Jefferson National Forest where Virginia Tech sophomores David Metzler and Heidi Childs were shot to death. Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

People who live near Caldwell Fields in Jefferson National Forest, the scene of the gruesome killings of two Virginia Tech students, said Friday that investigators have asked questions about an older-model sedan that had been seen on Craig Creek Road.

Jeff Caldwell, who lives about three miles down Craig Creek Road from Caldwell Fields, said he had seen the car, which he believed was a 1990s model, go back and forth along the snaking, rural road for the past two months or so.

"I don't notice a car until I've seen it four or five times," Caldwell said.

Vera Caldwell, his wife, said police described the car as gray or grayish-silver.

"But the officer I spoke to said he didn't care if it was pink, he wanted to know about it,” she said.

Myra Webb, a neighbor who lives about one mile west of Caldwell Fields, said the killings had spooked her and her neighbors.

"I didn't sleep at all last night," she said.

"Of all the times we have watched the news, and there was extreme violence in other neighborhoods, but when it happens in your front yard then you understand why people become nervous and apprehensive," Webb said.

Around noon Friday, neighbors Cathy Taylor visited the murder scene with her husband, Steve McMahan. They tied a small bouquet of flowers to a weathered fence post as a small memorial to Childs and Metzler.

Taylor said the Caldwell Fields recreation area is often on her running route.

"It's such a peaceful, serene place,” she said. “It's almost a spiritual place. I'm very sad."

Her husband added: "It's strange. They create a place like this that's so serene, and then something like this happens. It's perverse."

-- Dan Casey

Glass from the drivers' side window litters the grass where two Virginia Tech students were killed. Photos by Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

Recruits from the New River Criminal Justice Training Academy search for more clues at Caldwell Fields in Jefferson National Forest.

Montgomery County deputies are patrolling today on the road where the bodies of two Virginia Tech students were found Thursday morning.

At least three deputies were out this morning on Craig Creek Road, off U.S. 460. Montgomery County Lt. Brian Wright said they wanted to give residents of the area some peace of mind as well as be on the lookout for anyone who might have information about the apparent killings of David Metzler and Heidi Childs.

Addison Field, the day-use area where their bodies were found, was closed off by deputies Thursday as they combed the site for potential evidence. Today, the site is empty except for some shattered vehicle glass toward the back of the lot.

An inmate work crew from the Montgomery County Jail was picking up trash this morning along Craig Creek Road in the area of the Caldwell Fields campground, of which Addison Field is a part. Wright said the crew is scouring the roadway just in case there is anything of interest to be found.

"We want to make sure we don't leave anything uncovered," Wright said.

He said no suspects have been developed in the teenagers' deaths, which are being considered a double homicide. The sheriff's office has said it appeared they had been shot. Their bodies were taken to the medical examiner's office in Roanoke for autopsies, but Wright said the sheriff's office had not yet received their autopsy reports.

Wright said the sheriff's office is not aware of anyone reporting they heard gunshots between Wednesday night and Thursday morning. He noted that the closest home is a few miles from the site.

No suspects have been identified, Wright said. He said the sheriff's office would like to talk with anyone who may have any information about the incident.

"It's always possible that someone may have seen something that may be helpful even if they don't know if may be helpful," he said.

Anyone with any information is asked to call the sheriff's office at 382-2951.

-- Shawna Morrison, The Roanoke Times

Heidi Childs and David Metzler | Facebook photo

The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office has continued its investigation into the deaths of two Virginia Tech students from the Lynchburg area whose bodies were found Thursday morning in a remote day-use area of the Jefferson National Forest.

The victims, David Lee Metzler, 19, of Lynchburg and Heidi Lynn Childs, 18, of Forest, appeared to have been shot where they had parked in a day-use area of Caldwell Fields, according to Montgomery County Sheriff Tommy Whitt.

The area is a large group campground in the Jefferson National Forest more than eight miles down Craig Creek Road, where a shooting range and Camp Tuk-A-Way are located, off U.S. 460.  As of Friday morning, area roads and the Caldwell Fields section of the national forest had been reopened to the public, with a heavy law enforcement presence along Craig Creek Road in Montgomery County.

-- The Roanoke Times

By Mike Allen | The Roanoke Times

The man convicted of attacking an off-duty Roanoke police officer and leaving him paralyzed will spend 15 years in prison.

A Roanoke Circuit Court judge this morning sentenced 18-year-old William Steele Jr. to life in prison, suspended after he serves 15 years. Once Steele is released, he will remain on probation essentially for the rest of his life.

Steele was convicted last month of aggravated malicious wounding in the attack that broke Bryan Lawrence’s neck, injured his spinal cord and left him permanently disabled.

Lawrence has testified that the night of May 10, as he was working off-duty in full uniform at Berglund Chevrolet on Williamson Road, he heard a call about an assault on a woman at the nearby Go Mart. He went looking for the suspect, a man in an orange-and-white striped shirt, and found Dantonio Foster Sr., who matched the description and was walking along Huntington Boulevard Northwest with Steele.

Foster let Lawrence see his identification. When word came back on Lawrence's police radio that Foster was the suspect, Foster ran. Lawrence radioed in "Foot pursuit!" and gave chase. Foster tripped and Lawrence caught up with him, pinning him to the ground and grabbing his arm to cuff him. That's when Steele attacked him.

At his trial, Steele took the stand in his own defense, saying that he had wanted to help Foster but that he never intended to do lasting harm to Lawrence. He said that when he kicked at Lawrence, he wasn't aiming for the officer's head, and he insisted the kick was more of a "push."

By Amanda Codispoti | The Roanoke Times

Schools in the Alleghany Highlands are closed today as the search continues for a man suspected of fatally shooting two of his coworkers at The Homestead resort in Bath County.

Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for capital murder for Beacher F. Hackney, 59, of Covington. Hackney is a steward in the resort's main kitchen, where authorities believe he used a .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol to shoot Ronnie Stinnett, 60, and Dwight Kerr, 39, about 8 p.m. Saturday. Hackney fled on foot and was last seen going south on U.S. 220 just outside the resort.

There have been no new reports of any sightings of Hackney, said Capt. R.L. Armstrong with the Bath County Sheriff’s Office. The search has been scaled back today, with fewer people out looking, he said.

“The longer this thing goes on, the less likely it is he’s in the area,” Armstrong said.

Authorities have spoken with Hackney’s family in West Virginia, but they said they haven’t had any contact with Hackney recently, Armstrong said.

Based on accounts from coworkers, Armstrong described Hackney as a loner. “If he spoke at all, it was just to say hello,” he said. “He didn’t seek conversation.”

No search warrants have been filed yet, but Armstrong said authorities have searched Hackney’s Covington home and his car. The house was very clean, with few personal belongings and no food, bolstering the theory that Saturday’s shooting had been planned out.

Armstrong said they have not yet determined a motive.

Meanwhile, schools in Alleghany and Bath counties and Covington are closed today. Day classes at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College have been canceled.