Evening star., 1952-05-29
Mad Killer Of ;
Back in Hospital,
Won't Be Tried
Murder Charges
Dropped in SIoyings
On Loudoun Form

on MS 1aCnef'S 1arm near Afc0la !,
Va. after he escaped from the
State Mental Hospital at Staun-
ton. Va.
Handcuffed to Virginia State
troopers. Fox was transferred
from the Leesburg jail to the
Southwestern State Mental Hos
|pital at Marion, Va, early this
morning. Murder charges placed
against him after he was arrested
early yesterday were dropped.
Fox killed his 70-year-old
father. an Alexandria woman and
Ia Capital Airlines pilot in an in
sane rage Tuesday evening. He
was captured by Virginia State
troopers who led a 100-man posse
to the home of his brother, about
Ia mile from the murder scene.
Three Victims Slain.
Victims of the insane fugitive
who escaped from the Staunton
institution on May 10 were Will
liam F. Fox, his father; Miss Lii
liam Levona Hove, "a. of 817 South
Pitt street, Alexandria, and Capt.
Robert O'Connor, "a, of Falls
Church. All three were killed
with a 12-gauge shotgun.
Capt. O'Connor had leased the
70-acre Fox farm and drove there
with Miss Hove early Tuesday to
work the land. Miss Hove, who
held a commercial pilots license.
had been Capt. O'Connor's part
|ner in a flying school venture a
few years ago. She was a WASP
ferry pilot during the war and
later served with the Air Force as
Ia Link trainer instructor.
DIR. Joseph E. Barrett, Virginia
lState Commissioner of Mental
Hygiene and Hospitals, said he did
not plan to take any disciplinary
action after investigating cir
cumstances surrounding Foxs
escape from the Staunton Hos
lpital.
Police Not Notified.
DIR. Barrett said he was sur
prised when he learned officials
at the Staunton Hospital failed to
notify police when they discovered
Fox had returned to his fathers
farm on the same day he. es-
capped. The fugitive,s mother tel
ephoned the hospital and said her
son had returned home. She was
told to bring him back to Staun-
ton.
1T would seem like laxity. if the
hospital officials didn't tell police
where Fox was after they found
out" DR.. Barrett said. I talked
with them yesterday and they
felt they had taken care of every
thing necessary to have him
brought back
DR.. Barrett said mental hos
Ipital doctors sometimes tend to
be sympathetic to families of pa
tientS and are reluctant to seek
police Intervention when it ap-
pears that a case can be handled
informally. He pointed out that
the fugitives mother and brother
had been told to bring Fox back
to the hospital.
A statewide police lookout for
Fox was broadcast after he es-
capped, but the information that
|he had returned to his fathers
farm was not passed on to police.
Thought Him Released.
Capt. O'Connor and Miss Hove
had made several trips to the
farm while the escaped maniac
was there. Evidently they be-
lieved, as did most of the resi-
dents of the community, that Fox
had been furloughed from the
institution.
The killer started drinking
Tuesday and members of his
family became fearful of his
angry mood. His brother Claude
took his wife and their two chill
dren to the home Of brother
several miles away. The killers
mother went to the home of
friends.
But Capt. O'Connor and Miss
Hove. evidently unaware Of the
fugitive's murderous traits. con-
tinued to work in a truck garden
on the farm. Fox had quarreled
with his father over leasing the
farm to Capt. O'Connor.
/ All Shot in the Back.
i Capt. O'Connor was shot in the
back while he was sharpening
bean poles near a wood pile. Miss
Hove evidently tried to flee be-
hind the wood pile before she
was shot in the back Of the head.
The killers father, shouting loud
ly for help, ran to an orchard be-
hind the house where he was
killed with a shotgun blast in
the back.
Capt. O'Connor had been a
Capital Airlines pilot for II years.
His wife died when their daugh-
ter, Catherine, was born IL years
ago. The child lives with her
grandmother in Williamsport, Pa.
/ Miss Hove was area distributor
for a cosmetic firm. A native Of
Iowa, she settled in Alexandria
latter her discharge from the Air
Force in 1945. She is survived by
her mother. two sisters and two
brothers. all Of Iowa.
4 Arlinnfnn Youth Center