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The suspect,
Charles Severance, 55, was indicted last year for the slayings
in Alexandria, Virginia, a Washington suburb. The seemingly
random killings had fed fears that a serial killer was on the
loose in the U.S. capital area.
Severance is charged in the 2014 slaying of music teacher
Ruthanne Lodato, the 2013 shooting of regional transportation
planner Ronald Kirby and the 2003 killing of real estate agent
Nancy Dunning.
Prosecutors contend Severance killed his victims as revenge
against what he perceived as Alexandria's ruling class after
losing a child custody case.
The daylight shootings all occurred at the homes of the victims.
Prosecutors have revealed several of Severance's writings,
including one document that read, “Knock. Talk. Enter. Kill.
Exit. Murder.”
Severance lived in Alexandria in the 1990s and the early 2000s
and ran for mayor and Congress as a fringe candidate. He
sometimes wore a tricorn hat, was known for ranting in public
and once threw a punch at the organizer of a mayoral debate.
The trial in Fairfax County Circuit Court is expected to take
six weeks. Severance faces murder, wounding and firearms
charges.
(Reporting by John Clarke; Editing by Ian Simpson and Eric
Walsh)
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