(Free Lance-Star, The (Fredericksburg, VA) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jul. 20--Commuters and home builders aren't the only ones who have taken advantage of the growing Fredericksburg community and busy Interstate 95.

Criminals have been busy, too -- the number of violent crimes has grown at an even faster pace than the population.

Violent crime in the Fredericksburg area has risen 238 percent in the past 20 years, more than double the 92.5 percent increase in the region's population.

Capt. W.F. Bowler of the Criminal Investigations Division at the Stafford County Sheriff's Office said the growing population is an obvious reason for more crime, but other factors contribute greatly -- especially changes in society. The criminal behavior more prevalent in large cities often comes with the people who move to the Fredericksburg area to work or to commute to Washington or Northern Virginia, he said.

"People move to this area to get away from urban places, but they bring those issues with them because of their ways of life," he said.

He said Stafford is also a prime location for what he calls "interstate bandits."

"It's easy to jump off [Interstate 95], then jump back on the road," he said.

Two weeks ago, Yong Hui Zhang, a 24-year-old deliveryman for his family's China Express restaurant, was abducted, badly beaten and stabbed to death.

The couple charged with his abduction were not from this area. They are believed to have been traveling through Fredericksburg when they stopped and ordered Chinese food to be delivered to an abandoned apartment complex.

Zhang's body was found three days later about 100 miles south of Fredericksburg off I-95. The couple charged with abducting Zhang, Jermaine Montgomery, 34, and Marcey White, 36, were arrested after using his credit card at a Wal-Mart near where the deliveryman's body and car were later found.

Bowler said traveling criminals contribute significantly to violent robberies because they can more easily avoid identification. Such random crimes of violence are easier now, he said.

"You have more transportation and technology," he said.

'SOCIETY HAS CHANGED'

Spotsylvania County Sheriff Howard Smith believes the growing number of children coming home to empty houses is another factor in the increase in crime.

"In some families, Mom and Dad leave at 5 a.m. and don't come back until 7 at night," he said. "That's less family time."

Smith said that lack of supervision often extends beyond commuting hours.

"I see kids 13 or 14 years old out here at 2 in the morning and no one knows where they are," he said. "Our society has changed."

According to reports published by the state police, juveniles were arrested for 11.4 percent of violent crimes in 1987, 14.7 percent in 1997 and 15.8 percent in 2007.

"Kids at a younger age are introduced to so much more," Stafford's Bowler said. "We have to be more attentive to the younger generation."

Last August, 16-year-old Walter Smith Jr. of Spotsylvania was charged with rape and murder in the death of his 22-year-old sister, Betsy Mary Smith. Authorities accuse him of beating her to death with a sledgehammer and fracturing his 2-year-old niece's skull nine times with the same tool.

Betsy Mary Smith and the toddler weren't found until 13 hours later, when their parents asked why the toddler was crying in a locked bedroom.

Walter Smith is scheduled to go to trial Aug. 5. That crime, and Zhang's slaying, were among several in the region in the past year that have drawn extensive media coverage. Others include:

Earl Wayne "Butch" Reynolds shot his 13-year-old daughter in the back of the head on the family's front porch after a dispute over his drug use. Reynolds pleaded guilty earlier this year.

A 2-year-old girl was beaten to death by a former Marine in Stafford County. Christopher Nadeau was convicted earlier this year.

Fredericksburg police officer Todd Bahr was fatally shot after responding to a call by a woman who feared she was being stalked by her ex-boyfriend. The ex-boyfriend, Gregory Berryman, took his own life as police closed in. Authorities later said the woman's life was probably saved by the police response.

Sensational crimes are nothing new to the area. Spotsylvania's Smith has handled several during his almost 30-year tenure as a law enforcement officer, and recalls some from even earlier.

"I can remember when I was a senior in high school in Spotsylvania and the Gavises happened," he said.

He was referring to Chris Gavis, a 14-year-old who killed his family in 1978.

"That made national news back then," he said.

GROWING CRIME

Sensational crimes create a perception -- sometimes incorrect -- that violent crime is on the rise. Nationally, the proliferation of cable news outlets and true-crime television shows put a spotlight on violent crime even as the nation's crime rate actually decreased.

But locally, the numbers show that perception is reality. Violent crime has been on a steady increase over the past two decades, outpacing population growth.

Rapes increased 393.6 percent from 1987 to 2007. Murders climbed 155 percent over the same period. Robberies went up 118 percent and assaults jumped 285 percent.

Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Gellar said some of the increase can be attributed to a change in the crime-reporting process.

Before 1999, in a case involving several crimes, only the most serious was reported. For instance, if the victim were murdered, raped and robbed, only the murder would be "counted" in crime statistics.

In 1999, the process was changed so that each individual crime is now tabulated.

Changes in society and technology also have impacted the numbers. For example, experts say rape victims are more likely to report the crime today because the social stigma has eased and because DNA testing makes it easier to track down the culprits.

Bowler said the growing population and local crime rates have increasingly taxed local law enforcement agencies.

"We're always doing catch-up to stay abreast of the types of crimes that go on," he said.

While local police and sheriff's departments have increased staffing, Bowler said, the changes in society are tough to keep up with.

"We, as the years go by, will experience forms of violence that had no particular motive, that they are just violent and we think, maybe as a whole, our society has become more violent," he said.

To see more of The Free Lance-Star or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://fredericksburg.com/flshome.

Copyright (c) 2008, The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]

Discussions: