Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-10-12
FATHER Of Z HELD
AFTER Staying Of
V|RC|N|AN'S BRIDE
Girls Body Found in Hous-
ton Hotel, Nearly
Decapitated.
CULPEPER MAN TRIES
SUICIDE IN SAME ROOM
No Charges Placed Against W. H.
Reaguer-Victim Married Ran
dolph Wood September 26.

An attractive 2l-year- old bride of less
than three weeks was found virtually de-
capltated early today in a room at the
Houston Hotel with w. H. Reaguer,
so, Culpeper, Va, undertaken, who had
gashed his arm and wrists with a
pocketknife in suicide attempt.
The dead girl, whose throat was cut
from ear to ear, was Mrs. Willie Mae
Wood, wife Of Herbert Randolph
Wood, an employe of the Highway De-
partment, living in Fairfax County,
Va. In an adjoining room on the
ninth floor of the hotel at the time of
the murder was Mrs. Woods cousin,
17-year-old Anna O'Bennen of Gull
pepper, student at local business
college.
No Formal Charges.
Authorities said Mrs. Wood was
murdered by person we'll acquainted
with human anatomy, since the head
was almost severed from the body
through a neat cut made by small
pocket knife found lying beside the
dead woman.
Reaguer was arrested in the room
and given firSt-aid at Emergency
Hospital before being transferred to
Gallinger Hospital. where he was being
held under guard today for a cor
oner's inquest. No formal charges
were placed against the undertaken.
Police said Reaguer had tried to
kill himself by opening vein in the
upper arm and in his wrists. He was
greatly weakened from loss of blood,
but apparently will recover.
Father of Two Daughters.
The undertaken, a married man and
father of two married daughters, is
member of the Chamber OF Com
merce and the Rotary Club.
Inspector Frank S. w. Burke. chief
of detectives. said he understood
Reaguer was in such a highly nervous
condition he had been unable to make
coherent statement and had to be
restrained on his cot at Gallinger
Hospital Attendants said Reaguer
apparently had been drinking before
the tragedy. He seemed to be in a
semi-coma and shouted inarticulate
words. He was strapped to the
stretcher on which he was taken to
the hospital. shouting and moaning
Prior to her marriage at Rockville,
September Is, Mrs. Wood was Miss
Willie Mae Fletcher, daughter OF Mr..
and Mrs. j. W. Fletcher, tenant
farmers residing near Culpeper.
The dead girls youthful husband
came to police headquarters this
morning and talked to homicide squad
detectives. The officers then took
Wood to the morgue, where he identi-
fed the body of his bride.
Wood maintained his composure,
although he was in a highly nervous
condition. He gave detectives the
same story he earlier had related to
newspaper men.
Police have information that Mrs.
Wood and her cousin were picked up
in Culpeper early last night and
brought to Washington by Reaguer
in his automobile. They verified a re-
port that Mrs. Wood was seen in
Fairfax yesterday morning with her
mother, Mrs. Fletcher.
Police, however, have been unable
to trace the movement of the two
girls between the time they we're
taken to Fairfax by Woods sister-in-
law and the time they met Reaguer.
A hotel guest on the ninth floor
heard woman scream about 4:45
o'clock. He telephoned to the night
manager at the hotel. j. F. Sulli-
van. who hurried upstairs to investi-
gate.
Chain Bolts Door.
Sullivan partly opened the door to
Reaguer's room, but a chain was on
the door. He called through the
small opening, learned something was
wrong in the room and hastily sum-
moned the hotel manager, j. c. Ben
story.
The manager called police. Officers
shouted to Reaguer through the
(See Staying. Page %