Article

1978

Events that took place in Fairfax County in 1978:

January

• January 21 – 34-year-old Mildred R. Pilkerton is shot to death by her husband, 40-year-old Edward C. Pilkerton, in the couple's apartment at 4345 Ivymount Court in Annandale.^[1]
• January 27 – 25-year-old Mona L. Abney is raped and strangled to death in room 722 at the Tysons Corner Holiday Inn by her husband, Wilbert Abney, Jr..^[2]
• January 31 – 45-year-old gas station owner George H. Scarborough is shot to death at his townhouse apartment at 6541 Yadkin Court in Alexandria by James T. Clark, Jr. and Charles D. Stewart in a murder-for-hire plot masterminded by Scarborough's 44-year-old estranged wife Jamie.^[3]

February

• February 12 – 26-year-old carpenter Curtis L. Funkhouser, Jr. is shot to death by Laura V. Clohan at his home at 3924 Rugby Road in Fairfax.^[4][5][6]

March

• March 9 – The Fairfax County School Board votes unanimously to close Dunn Loring Elementary School and send its students to Stenwood Elementary School.^[7]

April

• April 11 – The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors votes 7-2 to express its intent to move the county's administrative headquarters out of the City of Fairfax.^[8]
• April 14 – 15 people are taken to the hospital and many others require first aid treatment when an appearance by singer Leif Garrett at the Harmony Hut record store in Springfield Mall draws a crowd of over a thousand.^[9]

May

• May 9 – Five people, 40-year-old Morris C. Pettit, 41-year-old Leroy Gregg, 27-year-old Helen Thornton and her two children, 4-year-old Kimberly and 19-month old Richard P. Ely, are killed in a fire at the Brooks Motor Lodge at 7301 Richmond Highway in Alexandria.^[10][11]
• May 31 – 24-year-old Laura V. Clohan is convicted of first-degree murder for fatally shooting her 26-year-old boyfriend Curtis L. Funkhouser, Jr. in the kitchen of his home at 3924 Rugby Road in Fairfax on February 12.^[12]

June

• June 4 – 31-year-old James H. English is shot and killed at the apartment of his estranged wife at 4507 Colony Court in the Woodlawn section of Alexandria when English lunges at Fairfax County Police Officer Donald M. Graves with a butcher knife. Officer Graves was among the officers who had been called to the scene when English, who gained entry through a window, beat up two people in the apartment then began throwing furniture through the windows.^[13]
• June 26 – In a 6-2 vote, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, overruling the recommendation of the planning commission, approves a plan to buy 87 units in the Fairfax Heritage Condominiums complex in Annandale for use as low-cost housing.^[14]

July

• July 18 – The collapse of an unshored trench at an Annandale construction site kills 25-year-old Michael DeGroot and 25-year-old Robert J. Baker, both employees of the S. O. Jennings Construction Company.^[15]
• July 22 – 25-year-old Phyllis Y. Sanders, a waitress from Washington, DC, dies in her cell at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.^[16]

August

• August 12 – The body of 12-year-old Billy Viscidi is found buried in a shallow grave in the back yard of his home at 503 Princeton Terrace SW in Vienna, about 46 yards from the family house.^[17]
• August 26 – 20-year-old Theodore R. Pope, Jr. drowns in Burke Lake when the rowboat he is riding in capsizes.^[18]
• August 29 – 58-year-old Louis King is shot to death in his home at 3530 Queen Ann Drive in the Country Club Hills neighborhood of Fairfax by his loser son, 18-year-old unemployed high school dropout Gary King.^[19]

September

• September 10 – 24-year-old Chancie McDonald is shot to death in the Baileys Park in Falls Church by 44-year-old William C. Jenkins.^[20]
• September 12 – 15-year-old Larry Viscidi is charged with murder in the death of his 12-year-old brother Billy.^[21]

October

• October 8 – Ilona Szabo fatally shoots her 44-year-old roommate, fellow Hungarian immigrant and restaurant cook Ibolya Jenes, in the chest with a high-powered rifle in their shared apartment at 9513 Blake Lane in Fairfax.^[22][23][24]
• October 18 – 19-year-old Roger B. Judkins shoots his 48-year-old father Newell to death with a .22 caliber pistol while he is sleeping in the family home at 6920 Hickory Hill Avenue in McLean.^[25][26]
• October 23 – Upon being told by Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman Martha V. Pennino that the BoS intends to ask him to resign, Fairfax County Executive Leonard L. Whorton submits his resignation. Whorton's resignation is accepted by a 7-2 vote, with only Supervisors John F. Herrity and Audrey Moore dissenting.^[27]
• October 23 – The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors votes unanimously to seek bids from consulting firms to develop an ordinance governing the county's cable television franchise.^[28]

November

• November 13 – 27-year-old Gary D. Hunter crashes his car into the house at 4802 Twinbrook Road in Fairfax and dies in the ensuing fire.^[29]
• November 21 – 21-year-old James T. Clark, Jr. is sentenced to death by Judge Richard Jamborsky for killing George H. Scarborough on January 31 in a murder-for-hire plot. Clark's response upon hearing his fate is to tell the judge, "Well, it was nice to know you," and spit at the judge's bench.^[30]
• November 21 – In her second fatal stabbing of the year, 27-year-old Mary S. Bellfield kills 28-year-old Francis W. Dyson in their shared home at 3503 Rolling Hills Avenue in Alexandria. Dyson is taken to Mount Vernon Hospital, where he is pronounced dead.^[31]

December

• December 5 – 38-year-old Betty M. Holler pleads guilty to a charge of being an accessory before the fact in the contract murder of George H. Scarborough on January 31.^[32]
• December 29 – 33-year-old John Jackson, a custodian at the Talent House Private School, is shot to death by Fairfax County Police officer David Lubas in the school building at 9211 Arlington Boulevard. Jackson had entered the private school to conduct a stakeout, unaware that Lubas and officer Nancy Lutz of the FCPD had already staked out the school. When Jackson saw Lubas, who was not in uniform, Jackson pointed his gun at Lubas, who then shot him three times.^[33][34]
• December 30 18-year-old Robert Smithwick, along with 19-year-old Timothy M. Greer and 18-year-old Matthew Musolino, III, firebombs Fort Hunt High School in Alexandria, causing over $4 million in damage.^[35][36][37]

References

1. ↑ "Md. Returns Suspect in Fairfax Murder Case." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): B2. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1995). Jan 28 1978. Web. 18 Feb. 2012.
2. ↑ Jackman, Tom. "Man on Trial in Wife's 78 Killing; Richmond Resident Changes Story, Says Slaying was an Accident." The Washington Post: B.04. National Newspapers Core. Mar 01 2006. Web. 8 Feb. 2012.
3. ↑ "Franconia Man Shot to Death in Doorway." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Feb 02 1978. ProQuest. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.
4. ↑ "Fairfax Man, 26, Found Slain in Home" Evening Star, 14 Feb. 1978, Two Star HOME FINAL, p. 20. NewsBank. Accessed 10 Jan. 2018.
5. ↑ "Woman Arrested in N.Va. Slaying." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Feb 15 1978. ProQuest. Web. 10 Jan. 2018.
6. ↑ "Woman Convicted in Murder Case." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Jun 02 1978. ProQuest. Web. 10 Jan. 2018.
7. ↑ "Fairfax School Board Votes to Shut Dunn Loring Elementary Next Fall." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Mar 10 1978. ProQuest. Web. 2 May 2014.
8. ↑ Associated Press. "Fairfax County Will Move Administrative Quarters." The Free Lance-Star [Fredericksburg, Virginia] 12 Apr. 1978: 6.
9. ↑ Morgan, Thomas. "Pop Singer's Fans Mob Shopping Center; Many Hurt." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Apr 15 1978. ProQuest. Web. 18 Aug. 2014.
10. ↑ Harden, Blaine, and Maggie Locke. "Survivors Recall Horrors of Fire that Killed Five." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 2. May 10 1978. ProQuest. Web. 8 Jan. 2018.
11. ↑ Washington, Adrienne. "After the Flames Came the Friends to See Who Was Still Alive" Evening Star, 10 May 1978, Two Star HOME FINAL, p. 27. NewsBank. Accessed 8 Jan. 2018.
12. ↑ "Woman Convicted in Murder Case." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Jun 02 1978. ProQuest. Web. 2 Mar. 2018.
13. ↑ Cue, Eduardo. "Fairfax Man Shot, Slain in Rampage." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): C1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1995). Jun 05 1978. Web. 15 Feb. 2012.
14. ↑ Locke, Maggie. "Fairfax Approves Low-Cost Housing Units in Annandale." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 29 June 1978. Web. 12 June 2016.
15. ↑ Seaberry, Jane, and Athelia Knight. "Two Workers Suffocated in Virginia Ditch Cave-in." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 2. Jul 19 1978. ProQuest. Web. 28 July 2016.
16. ↑ "Fairfax Authorities Probe Womans Death in Jail." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): B3. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1994). Jul 25 1978. Web. 18 Dec. 2011.
17. ↑ Feinstein, John, and Patricia Camp. "Body Discovered in Yard of Missing Boy's Home." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 2. Aug 13 1978. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1995). Web. 23 Oct. 2012.
18. ↑ "Boat Mishap Fatal in Fairfax County." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Aug 27 1978. ProQuest. Web. 23 July 2016 .
19. ↑ Grubisich, Thomas. "Fairfax Man, 18, Charged in Slaying of Father, 58, in Bedroom of Home." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): A12. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1995). Aug 30 1978. Web. 12 Apr. 2012.
20. ↑ "Fairfax Man Held in Shooting Death." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Sep 12 1978. ProQuest. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.
21. ↑ Bachinski, E. J., and Thomas Morgan. "Juvenile Charged with Slaying Billy Viscidi." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 2. Sep 14 1978. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1995). Web. 23 Oct. 2012.
22. ↑ "Va. Woman found Slain in Apartment." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Oct 10 1978. ProQuest. Web. 31 Dec. 2013.
23. ↑ "Woman Convicted of Murder Gets Suspended Sentence."The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Jun 22 1979. ProQuest. Web. 31 Dec. 2013.
24. ↑ "The Immigrant." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Mar 25 1983. ProQuest. Web. 31 Dec. 2013 .
25. ↑ Bercovici, Liza and Blaine Harden. "CIA Official Shot to Death at Home." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Oct 19 1978. ProQuest. Web. 5 Feb. 2014.
26. ↑ Bercovici , Liza. "Va. Judge Sends Killer of Father to Utah Institution." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Mar 21 1979. ProQuest. Web. 5 Feb. 2014.
27. ↑ Grubisch, Thomas. "Fairfax Executive Whorton Resigns Under Pressure." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): B1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1995). Oct 24 1978. Web. 15 Feb. 2012.
28. ↑ Locke, Maggie. "Fairfax and Cable TV." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Oct 26 1978. ProQuest. Web. 20 Dec. 2017.
29. ↑ Tofani, Loretta. "Driver Dies as Car Hits Home, Starts Fire." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Nov 14 1978. ProQuest. Web. 13 July 2016.
30. ↑ "Death Sentence Given in Va. Murder." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Nov 22 1978. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1996). Web. 20 Nov. 2012.
31. ↑ Bercovici, Liza. "Woman Held in 2nd Stabbing Death." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Nov 22 1978. ProQuest. Web. 21 Aug. 2016.
32. ↑ Knight, Athelia. "Murder-for-Hire Go-between Sets Guilty Plea in Va." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 2. Dec 06 1978. ProQuest. Web. 28 Jan. 2014.
33. ↑ Knight, Athelia. "Caretaker at Fairfax School Slain by Police: Police on Stakeout Slay Custodian at Va. School. The Washington Post (1974-Current file):A1 ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1995) Dec 30, 1978. Web. Sep 28, 2012
34. ↑ "Fairfax Police Change Rules On Stakeouts After Slaying." The Washington Post (1974-Current file):C3 ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1995). Feb 14, 1979. Web. Sep 28, 2012.
35. ↑ Mansfield, Stephanie. "$4.5 Million School Fire 'A Clear Case of Arson'." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 2. Dec 31 1978. ProQuest. Web. 5 Jan. 2018.
36. ↑ Harden, Blaine. "Youth Convicted, 2nd Pleads Guilty in Fort Hunt Arson." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 2. May 31 1979. ProQuest. Web. 5 Jan. 2018.
37. ↑ Harden, Blaine. "Ft. Hunt Arson Figure Pleads to Lesser Charge." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Jun 19 1979. ProQuest. Web. 5 Jan. 2018.

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Fairfax County by Year
1977	·	1978	·	1979

Fractured Fairfax is Copyright © 2011 – 2017 by Chuck Hoffmann