Evening star., 1951-10-08
.ChiId-Custody Row
Leads 10 Sayings
OF Man, Wife, Son

telephone operator, brought q
battery of police cars and ambu-
lances rushing to his red brick
rambler home on Defense highway
in Lanham Park, Md, yesterday
afternoon.
When they arrived, police found
three bodies lying on the floor OF
the master bedroom.
Mr.. Hastings. 53-year-old owner
|of the Rundlett Rim and Wheel
Co.. l349 Cedar court NV, Wash
ington. and his wife. Elsie Will
liams Hastings, At. were dead.
Stepson Fatally Wounded.
. Royce P. Holland, %, Mrs
Hastings son by a former mar
riage, was fatally wounded. He
died about a half hour after ar
rival at Prince Georges General
Hospital with bullet wounds in the
back, the abdomen and left wrist
Police also found a dazed but
coherent witness to the tragic
shootings, 7-year-old Lonnie Hol-
land. daughter of Royce.
Police believe Mr.. Hastings went
berserk in the heat of an argu-
ment over the custody of the little
girl, who had lived most of hel
life with her grandparents.
Child's Parents Divorced.
Friends said Mr.. and Mrs. Has
tings had reared Lonnie since she
was an infant after her mother
and father were divorced. They
said Mr.. Hastings, a member OF
the board of trustees of the Gen.
tral Baptist Church Of Bladens-
burg, was very devoted to the
little girl.
Detective Sergt. Earl Huber OF
the Prince Georges County police
station at Hyattsville pieced to-
gether this story Oh the shootings
from the little girls account and
her fathers dying words:
Told of Trouble with Husband.
Mrs. Hastings yesterday morn
ing telephoned Mr.. Holland to tell
him she had been having some
trouble with her husband con-
corning Lonnie. She asked her
son to pick up the child after
Sunday school at the Central Bap-
tist Church and bring her home.
When Mr.. Holland brought his
daughter to his stepfather's home.
there was an argument over
whether she should continue to
live there or whether Mr.. Hol-
land should take her to his home.
Mr.. Hastings got a .22-caliber
rifle from a gun collection. There
was a struggle and Mr.. Holland
wrested the rifle away from the
older man.
Shoots Wife Twice.
Then Mr.. Hastings got a .3s-
caliber pistol from the adjoining
garage. Re-entering his bedroom,
he shot Mrs. Hastings twice, one
bullet entering the abdomen and
the other in the chest.
Stepping into the living room,
he felled his stepson with one
shot. Mr.. Holland managed, how
ever. to follow Mr.. Hastings back
into the bedroom, where Mr.. Has
tings turned and pumped two
more bullets into the younger
mans body.
Before putting the last bullet
through his head. the business
executive picked up his bedroom
phone to tell the operator what
he had done.
The operator, Mrs. Dorothy
Stuart of 4207 Kennedy street,
Hyattsville. asked him for his
number.
I'm Mr.. Hastings of Lanham," 4"
he replied, and hung up.
Child Tells of Tragedy.
The operator contacted HyattS-
vile police, tracing Mr.. Hastings
number at the same time. When
she called the number back for
police. Lonnie answered and told
police what had happened and
where the house was located.
DR.. John T Maloney, county
medical examiner, issued a Ger
tificate of double homicide and
suicide. The three bodies were
removed to GaSch's Funeral Home,
Hyattsville. Funeral arrange
ments were incomplete as of to-
day.
Neighbors. stunned by the trag-
edy. described the Hastingses as
very congenial and peaceful peo-
pie. Mark Watts, who lives across
the street, said he and his wife had
talked to Mr.. and Mrs. Hastings
yesterday morning and both
seemed in good spirits.
One neighbor, surveying the
spacious, six-room home Mr.. Has
tings built four years ago on a
65-acre tract about a quarter of
a mile east of the Lanham over
pass, remarked: TITS a strange
thing. Mr.. Hastings had the world
with a fence around it, as far as
any of us could see."
A friend, however, said Mr.. and
Mrs. Hastings had quarreled re-
u@.~ ~l -, .