Article

1997

Events that took place in Fairfax County in 1997:

January

• January 10 – An early morning fire in the vehicle bay at the Burke Volunteer Fire Department station in Burke causes $1 million in damage, including the total destruction of a $300,000 rescue squad truck owned by BVFD.^[1]
• January 15 – 26-year-old Marcus D. Reagan fatally stabs his 39-year-old sister Dodi in at her apartment at 7640 Tremayne Place, #203, in McLean. Two days later, Marcus turns himself in at the McLean District Station.^[2]
• January 24 – 23-year-old Jonathan Sorah is sentenced to 12 months in jail by Judge M. Langhorne Keith for the June 8, 1996 killing of his brother Joseph at the family home at 2304 High Drive in Vienna.^[3]
• January 24 – 22-year-old Derrick Pinkney is fatally shot in Mount Vernon.^[4][5]
• January 30 – A 3-day archaeological excavation the graves of six Civil War soldiers found at the construction site of a McDonald's in Centreville begins.^[6]

February

• February 12 – 24-year-old Lars Hanson is convicted of first-degree murder for the fatal stabbing of David C. Stallard at the Shell station at 6660 Arlington Boulevard in Falls Church on March 25, 1996.^[7]
• February 26 – Fairfax County Police officer Jeffrey R. Hand robs the Central Fidelity Bank at 9516 Old Keene Mill Road in Springfield.^[8]

March

• March 19 – 44-year-old Robert Kaseman drunkenly kills 56-year-old Adela Baqaie and injures her husband Mohammed when he runs a red light at the intersection of Old Keene Mill Road and Bauer Drive in Springfield and strikes the Baqaie's 1987 Honda.^[9][10]
• March 29 – 59-year-old Seung Woo Pak unintentionally kills herself when she loses control of the 1991 Toyota she is driving and veers into the path of a 1991 Honda driven by a 16-year-old at the intersection of Burke Lake and Coffer Woods Roads in Burke.^[11]

April

• April 19 – 23-year-old Michael W. Little fatally injures his passenger, 17-year-old Langley High School senior Katherine E. Pehrkon, when he drunkenly loses control of his speeding 1989 Honda Civic on Beach Mill Road in Great Falls and crashes into a tree. Pehrkon and another severely injured passenger, 17-year-old Joshua Chou, are taken to the Inova Fairfax Hospital, where she dies the next day.^[12][13]

May

• May 22 – Fairfax County Police officer Jeffrey R. Hand robs the Central Fidelity Bank at 5815 Burke Centre Parkway in Burke.^[8]
• May 29 – Jimmy's Old Town Tavern opens in Herndon.

June

• June 9 – In an 8 to 1 vote, the Board of Supervisors appoints Hampton, Virginia City Manager Robert J. O'Neill, Jr. as the new County Executive.^[14]
• June 11 – 21-year-old Christopher David DuBreuil becomes the county's third homicide victim of the year when he is shot in the head outside his home at 6306 Alderman Drive in Franconia by 43-year-old Lonzo E. Blansett.^[15][16]
• June 18 – While visiting friends in the area, 19-year-old District resident William T. Robinson stabs 29-year-old teacher Sandra M. Zembruski to death outside her apartment in Tyson's Glen in Falls Church.^[17][18]
• June 30 – 19-year-old Vikman Rios Vargas shakes his girlfriend's daughter, 1-year-old Beatriz Andrea Quijada, to death in the rented basement of a townhouse on Hiddenite Court in Franconia.^[19]

July

• July 7 – 83-year-old Emelene E. Casey dies in a fire at her home at 1335 Balls Hill Road in McLean.^[20][21]
• July 9 – 48-year-old cab driver Muhammad Islam is shot and mortally wounded in Alexandria in an apparent robbery. He is taken first to Inova Mount Vernon Hospital and then flown to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where he dies.^[22][23]
• July 12 – 55-year-old Bobby R. Quisenberry and his 54-year-old wife Pat are shot to death in the bedroom of their townhouse at 9594 Lagersfield Circle in Vienna.^[24]
• July 12 – 22-year-old Eric A. Barcia unintentionally kills himself when attempts to bungee jump from the Accotink Creek Railroad Bridge using an improvised bungee cord.^[25]

August

• August 5 – 33-year-old Michael K. Carter beats and mortally injures 48-year-old Francis Knapper, Jr. in the Beacon Hill area of Alexandria to settle a dispute over a $10 debt. Knapper is taken to the Inova Fairfax Hospital, where he dies on August 7.^[26][27]
• August 14 – 11-year-old Abdirahman Ali and 10-year-old Abdirizak Hussein drown while wading in Lake Barcroft.^[28]
• August 28 – One construction worker is killed and another mortally injured when a crane collapses at the site of the Homewood Suites hotel at 13460 Sunrise Valley Drive in Herndon. The mortally injured worker is taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where he dies.^[29]

September

• September 3 – 39-year-old Christopher D. Roberts fatally shoots his estranged wife, 36-year-old Delbert D. J. Roberts, in the parking lot of the Springfield Mall to settle a dispute, then shoots and mortally wounds himself. Roberts is taken to the Inova Fairfax Hospital, where he dies.^[30][31]
• September 8 – 54-year-old Benjamin W. Brown pleads no contest to second-degree murder for stabbing 72-year-old Robert Wells to death in Reston on September 30, 1996.^[32]
• September 17 – Former Fairfax County police officer Jeffrey R. Hand pleads guilty before Judge Jane Marum Roush in Fairfax County Court to robbing two Fairfax County branches of the Central Fidelity Bank in February and May.^[8]
• September 17 – 2-year-old Nathan Garfield falls into a two-foot deep hole that had been dug for construction of a deck his house at 6614 Oak Rock Court in Centreville and drowns in the six inches of water that had accumulated there.^[33]
• September 18 – 23-year-old Michael A. Vengrin unintentionally kills himself when he loses control of his 1996 Chevrolet Camaro and strikes a tree, flipping the car, on Ox Road at Popes Head Road in Fairfax Station.^[34]

October

• October 17 – 4-year-old Malcolm Hill is killed by 33-year-old Robert Brennan when he drunkenly crashes his 1996 Ford Ranger into the back of a Mazda 626 driven by Robert's mother Penny as she waits to turn onto Nutley Street from Lee Highway in Fairfax.^[35][36][37]
• October 20 – 49-year-old Sheryl W. Czepluch, a librarian at Dranesville Elementary School, is killed when a deer struck by another car crashes through the windshield of her Volvo as she drives along Old Dominion Drive in McLean.^[38][39]
• October 31 – 19-year-old William T. Robinson pleads guilty to the June 18 murder of 29-year-old Sandra Zembruski.^[40]

November

• November 9 – 19-year-old Elvia Garcia fatally poisons her 11-day-old son Ivan at her home in the Audubon Estates trailer park in Alexandria by putting the painkiller tramadol hydrochloride in his formula.^[41][42][43]
• November 12 – Daniel A. Domenech is chosen as superintendent by the Fairfax County School Board in an 8-4 party line vote over Madison, Wisconsin superintendent Cheryl W. Wilhoyte.^[44]
• November 22 – 17-year-old Robinson High School senior Maren E. Polach unintentionally kills herself on Clifton Road in Clifton when she drives off the road and strikes a tree.^[45]
• November 25 – 25-year-old Gwendolyn T. Jackson is beaten and strangled to death in her townhouse at 4559 Southland Avenue in the Lincolnia area of Alexandria by her boyfriend's estranged wife, Dolly Parks.^[46][47]

December

• December 10 – 18-year-old James R. Merry is beaten with a baseball bat and mortally injured by 19-year-old Mario A. Bustillo outside the Popeye's Fried Chicken in the Springfield Plaza in Springfield. Merry dies of his injuries on the evening of December 16.^[48]
• December 16 – Brayan P. Fuentes and Juanita L. Rodriguez are fatally shot by Rodriguez's ex-husband, 26-year-old Adolfo Erick Rodriguez, as they sit in a parked Nissan near Dartmouth and Radcliffe Drives in the Beacon Hill area of Alexandria. Juanita, who was shot three times, dies of her injuries on December 22.^[49][50]
• December 19 – Fairfax Circuit Court Judge J. Howe Brown, Jr. overturns a county regulation barring handguns and other weapons from recreation centers and other government buildings.^[51]
• December 22 – 50-year-old Oscar H. Doyle is killed when he runs his Jeep off the road in Lorton and is thrown from the vehicle.^[52]

Crime

There were 16 murders or other homicides in Fairfax County in 1997.^[53]

58 people were killed in 58 fatal traffic crashes in Fairfax County in 1997. 17 of those crashes involved alcohol.

References

1. ↑ Vogel, Steve. "For Va. Firefighters, Blaze was Too Close for Comfort." The Washington Post, Jan 11 1997, p. C, 1:2. ProQuest. Web. 24 May 2018.
2. ↑ "Addenda." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 18 Jan. 1997. Web. 27 July 2016.
3. ↑ "CRIME AND JUSTICE: Man Gets 12 Months in Slaying of Brother." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Jan 25 1997. ProQuest. Web. 11 May 2014.
4. ↑ "Man Killed in Fairfax." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Jan 25 1997. ProQuest. Web. 6 Feb. 2017.
5. ↑ "Crime Watch: Fairfax County." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 2. Feb 06 1997. ProQuest. Web. 6 Feb. 2017 .
6. ↑ Hobbs, Bonnie. "Unraveling a Civil War Mystery." The Connection Newspapers. Connection Newspapers, 27 Mar. 2002. Web. 17 Feb. 2012.
7. ↑ "Man Gets Life for Fatal Stabbing." The Washington Post: 0. Feb 13 1997. ProQuest. Web. 12 May 2014.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2} Melillo, Wendy. "Ex-Officer in Fairfax Pleads Guilty to Two Bank Robberies." The Washington Post: D.04. National Newspapers Core. Sep 18 1997. Web. 15 Oct. 2011.
9. ↑ "Va. Woman Dies in Crash." The Washington Post Mar 20 1997. ProQuest. Web. 30 July 2016.
10. ↑ "Man Charged in Va. Crash." The Washington Post Mar 21 1997. ProQuest. Web. 30 July 2016.
11. ↑ "One Killed, One Hurt in Fairfax Accident." The Washington PostMar 30 1997. ProQuest. Web. 2 Dec. 2017.
12. ↑ Fountain, John W. "Va. Students Mourn After Fatal Accident; Driver was Intoxicated, Police Allege." The Washington Post: 0. Apr 22 1997. ProQuest. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.
13. ↑ Tousignant, Marylou. "Driver of Car in which Teen was Killed Pleads Guilty." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Sep 11 1997. ProQuest. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.
14. ↑ Lipton, Eric. "Fairfax Hires New Top Administrator; Salary Set at $163,285." The Washington Post (1974-Current file), Jun 10 1997, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. 21 Aug. 2018.
15. ↑ "Franconia Man Charged in Slaying." The Washington PostJun 13 1997. ProQuest.Web. 30 July 2016.
16. ↑ "CRIME AND JUSTICE: Fairfax Man Convicted in Fatal Shooting." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Sep 17 1997. ProQuest. Web. 30 July 2016.
17. ↑ Saulny, Susan. "Teacher Slain Outside Fairfax Home; Police Suspect Link to Abduction, Robbery at Apartment Complex." The Washington Post: B.05. National Newspapers Core. Jun 20 1997. Web. 31 Dec. 2011.
18. ↑ "D.C. Man Indicted in Fairfax Slaying." The Washington Post: E.03. National Newspapers Core. Jul 22 1997. Web. 31 Dec. 2011.
19. ↑ Lacharite, Gretchen. "Fairfax police charge man in fatal shaking of 1-year-old." Washington Times [Washington, DC] 28 Aug. 1997: 7. General Reference Center GOLD. Web. 29 Jan. 2017.
20. ↑ "McLean Woman, 83, Dies in Fire After Rescue Efforts Fail." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Jul 08 1997. ProQuest. Web. 13 May 2014.
21. ↑ Sorokin, Ellen. "Fire Takes Woman, 83, and Her Lifelong Home." Fairfax Journal. Journal Newspapers, 8 July 1997. Web. 13 May 2014.
22. ↑ Scott, David. "Robbery is motive in killing of cabdriver." Washington Times [Washington, DC] 10 July 1997: 6. General Reference Center GOLD. Web. 24 Aug. 2014.
23. ↑ Melillo, Wendy. "`I Am Shot, I Am Shot,' Cabbie Says; Va. Driver Radios in After Fatal Wounding." The Washington Post: 0. Jul 10 1997. ProQuest. Web. 24 Aug. 2014.
24. ↑ Melillo, Wendy. "Couple found Slain in Vienna Identified as Residents of House." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Jul 17 1997. ProQuest. Web. 24 Sep. 2014.
25. ↑ Allen, Mike. "Reston Man, 22, Dies After using Bungee Cords to Jump Off Trestle." The Washington Post: B.02. National Newspapers Core. Jul 13 1997. Web. 15 Oct. 2011.
26. ↑ "Man Indicted in Slaying." The Washington Post Aug 23 1997. ProQuest. Web. 30 July 2016.
27. ↑ "Murder Acquittal." The Washington Post Oct 24 1997. ProQuest. Web. 30 July 2016.
28. ↑ Mooar, Brian. "Two Boys Drown in Fairfax." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 2. Aug 15 1997. ProQuest. Web. 15 July 2016.
29. ↑ Finn, Peter. "2 Workers Killed, 1 Injured at Construction Site; Crane being Erected for Hotel Project Collapses in Va." The Washington Post: D, 3:3. Aug 29 1997.ProQuest. Web. 19 June 2016.
30. ↑ Tousignant, Marylou, and Brian Mooar. "Va. Resident Kills Wife, then Self; Man Reportedly was at Springfield Mall to Pick Up Baby." The Washington Post: B.01. National Newspapers Core. Sep 04 1997. Web. 8 Mar. 2012.
31. ↑ "Apparent Murder-Suicide Victims Identified." The Washington Post: B.07. National Newspapers Core. Sep 05 1997. Web. 8 Mar. 2012.
32. ↑ Finn, Peter. "Prison Deal Reached in Reston Slaying; Music Teacher's Alleged Assailant Agrees to Serve Up to 12 Years." The Washington Post: 0. Sep 09 1997. ProQuest. Web. 25 Aug. 2014.
33. ↑ "AROUND THE REGION: Centreville Boy, 2, Drowns." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Sep 19 1997. ProQuest. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.
34. ↑ "AROUND THE REGION: Storm-Related Wreck Kills 1." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Sep 19 1997. ProQuest. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.
35. ↑ "Toddler killed in crash; drunken driving cited." Washington Times [Washington, DC] 19 Oct. 1997: 11. General Reference Center GOLD. Web. 29 Jan. 2017. Note: This article incorrectly identifies the drunk who killed Malcolm Hill as Robert Grinnan.
36. ↑ Shaver, Katherine. "Ride Home Turns Fatal for Boy, 4." The Washington Post. WP Company, 19 Oct. 1997. Web. 29 Jan. 2017.
37. ↑ Lacharite, Gretchen. "Driver in crash known boozer." Washington Times [Washington, DC] 22 Oct. 1997: 5. General Reference Center GOLD. Web. 29 Jan. 2017.
38. ↑ Lacharite, Gretchen, and Jeremy Redmon. "Collision with deer kills one in McLean.(Metropolitan Times)(Top Of The News)." The Washington Times (Washington, DC). News World Communications, Inc. 1997. HighBeam Research. 24 Feb. 2012.
39. ↑ "McLean Woman Killed as Deer Hits Car." The Washington Post: B.03. National Newspapers Core. Oct 21 1997. Web. 24 Feb. 2012.
40. ↑ Lacharite, Gretchen, and Walden Siew "Sometimes, it's just a matter of luck." The Washington Times, 15 Feb. 1998, 2, A NATION SPECIAL REPORT, p. A6. NewsBank. Accessed 9 Feb. 2018.
41. ↑ Moreno, Sylvia. "Prescription Drug Leaves Baby Dead, Police Curious." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 2. Nov 25 1997.ProQuest. Web. 26 July 2016.
42. ↑ Lacharite, Gretchen. "Mom killed infant with painkillers, police say." Washington Times [Washington, DC] 26 Nov. 1997: 3. General Reference Center GOLD. Web. 29 Jan. 2017.
43. ↑ Moreno, Sylvia, and Brooke A. Masters. "Mother's Admission Too Little to Convict; Lack of Proof Cited in Infant's Death." The Washington Post: B01. Mar 14 1998.ProQuest. Web. 26 July 2016.
44. ↑ Benning, Victoria. "Fairfax Schools Hire Long Island Educator; New Superintendent Praised for His Passion." The Washington Post: 0. Nov 13 1997. ProQuest. Web. 30 Dec. 2013.
45. ↑ "Burke Girl, 17, Killed when Minivan Crashes." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 31. Nov 23 1997. ProQuest. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
46. ↑ "Woman, 25, found Slain in Fairfax." The Washington Post: 0. Nov 27 1997. ProQuest. Web. 13 Sep. 2014.
47. ↑ Jackman, Tom. "Wife Gets 25 Years for Killing Girlfriend." The Washington Post: 0. Feb 13 1999. ProQuest. Web. 13 Sep. 2014.
48. ↑ "Man Dies of Injuries Received During Beating." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Dec 18 1997. ProQuest. Web. 19 Aug. 2014.
49. ↑ Melillo, Wendy. "Fairfax Shooting Kills Man, Leaves Woman Hospitalized." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Dec 18 1997. ProQuest. Web. 30 July 2016.
50. ↑ "Ex-Husband Sought in Fairfax Homicides." The Washington Post: B05. Dec 24 1997.ProQuest. Web. 30 July 2016.
51. ↑ Melillo, Wendy. "Fairfax County Weapon Ban Thrown Out." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 20 Dec. 1997. Web. 14 Aug. 2016.
52. ↑ "Lorton Man, 50, Killed as Jeep Veers Off Road." The Washington Post: B.02. National Newspapers Core. Dec 23 1997. Web. 22 Dec. 2011.
53. ↑ Hansen, Ronald J., and Jim Keary. "Area homicides drop, arrests climb in 1997." Washington Times [Washington, DC] 2 Jan. 1998: 1. General Reference Center GOLD. Web. 29 Jan. 2017.

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Fairfax County by Year
1996	·	1997	·	1998

Fractured Fairfax is Copyright © 2011 – 2017 by Chuck Hoffmann