Word of the Appomattox rampage led to an anxious wait

APPOMATTOX -- Kim Scruggs had heard about the shooting in Appomattox County, and she couldn't reach her teenage son or his girlfriend Tuesday afternoon.

She knew her son, Ronald I. "Bo" Scruggs II, had visited the Appomattox home of his girlfriend, Emily A. Quarles, earlier that day. Then word spread about the rampage.

Sensing Bo was in trouble, Kim Scruggs and her daughter drove from Dillwyn toward Appomattox, where they frantically waited six hours with little information at a police roadblock near Quarles' home.

Both teens, they would later learn, were victims of the deadliest shooting in the state since the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007.

Inside the home of shooting suspect Christopher B. Speight were night-vision equipment, ballistic body armor, "large amounts" of ammunition and a "large number" of weapons, including pistols and long guns, authorities said yesterday.

Outside, authorities found provisions that included food, water and sleeping bags. All the items belonged to Speight, police said.

Police also said they discovered and safely detonated a "multitude" of explosive devices inside and outside the home. They did not identify the type of devices or comment on how much of a danger they had posed.

All eight victims apparently died Tuesday, authorities said, but the bodies were not removed until Wednesday as a precaution against accidental detonation of the devices.

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Students returned to Appomattox County High School yesterday shaken by the loss of three classmates: Bo, a 16-year-old junior; Emily, a 15-year-old ninth-grader; and her friend Morgan L. Dobyns, 15, a 10th-grader. Friends described the trio as almost inseparable.

Morgan's uncle, 39-year-old Speight, is suspected of killing the three teens along with Speight's sister, Lauralee Sipe, 38, who was Morgan's mother; Sipe's husband, Dwayne S. Sipe, 38; their 4-year-old son, Joshua Sipe; and Emily's parents, Jonathan L. Quarles and Karen Quarles, both 43.

Appomattox schools Superintendent Dorinda G. Grasty said at a news conference yesterday that crisis guidance counselors and additional response teams were brought in to support grieving students and staffs at county schools, which were closed Wednesday and opened two hours late yesterday.

"We have lost three students to a senseless act of violence," added high school Principal Michael Kelly, also at the news conference. "Our faculty and students are experiencing the full spectrum of grief, from denial and anger to acceptance. But we have great support."

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Police were summoned about noon Tuesday to Speight's rural home on Snapps Mill Road, where they found three bodies inside, four outside and Jonathan Quarles wounded on the road. He later died at Lynchburg General Hospital. Speight eluded a massive manhunt, during which authorities say he shot a police helicopter, forcing it to land. He emerged from a wooded area near his home shortly after 7 a.m. the next morning and surrendered.

Authorities have charged Speight with first-degree murder of Lauralee Sipe. He is jailed without bond, pending a hearing Wednesday in Appomattox General District Court.

Police have released no motive for the crime.

Friends of Speight said he had been troubled because he believed his sister and her family, who moved in with him nearly a year ago, were trying to run him off. According to court records, Speight and his sister had a stake in the property.

But a lawyer working with the family said he was handling the eventual transfer of the property exclusively to Speight, a measure he said was supported by the sister to see that Speight was cared for.

Speight (pronounced SPATE) had worked security at Sunshine Market, a store in Lynchburg, for several years off and on. Former colleagues said he was good at his job but underwent a change after his mother died in 2006.

Sometime after she died, Speight stopped working security and moved in with his sister in Georgia, complaining of a "zinging in his ear and his body," said Sunshine Market co-owner David Anderson. Speight later moved back to Appomattox and resumed the security job.

Sunshine employee Tonya Maddox said Speight spoke of government conspiracy.

He had 20 to 40 guns and also owned a night-vision scope and goggles, Anderson said. Speight had dug a roughly 10-foot-by-12-foot bunker for the storage of ready-to-eat meals.

But Anderson said Speight used it instead to bury his dog after it died of a heart attack about a year and a half ago. Anderson said the dog had been as big as a bear.

When he surrendered, Speight was unarmed but wearing a bulletproof vest and camouflage pants. Police say he fired on the helicopter with a high-powered rifle.

"I don't think he did it," Anderson declared, referring to the killings.

Anderson said he had gone shooting on a firing range at Speight's home, and that Speight was a good marksman. And Mark Franklin, who lives near Speight's property, said he often could hear gunfire. Franklin said a friend, a UPS driver, told Franklin he had delivered ammunition to Speight's home.

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On Tuesday morning, Bo Scruggs' sister Ashley dropped him off at Emily Quarles' house off U.S. 460 near the state police Appomattox headquarters and went to class at Central Virginia Community College. She said her brother and Emily, who had the day off from school because of a teacher workday, planned to go out to eat in Lynchburg with Emily's mother.

Morgan Dobyns had spent Monday night at the Quarles home, the Scruggs family said. They added yesterday that it remained unclear why Bo, Emily and her parents all ended up at Speight's home. Police wouldn't comment on that question, citing their ongoing investigation.

When Ashley Scruggs got home from class, she saw a posting on Facebook that mentioned a shooting in Appomattox, she said, which prompted her and her mother to drive to Appomattox looking for Bo.

Bo Scruggs' family and friends remembered him yesterday as a practical joker who liked to hunt deer and ride his skateboard and was anxious to finish school, but also enjoyed being there so he could see Emily.

Ashley Scruggs fondly remembered Bo as a younger brother who was "full of life and full of himself." He would play "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" video games, and he sometimes would wake her up at 4 a.m., telling her that only old people go to bed early.

He used to jokingly tell their mother that he aspired to become a "professional bum," his sister said. At more serious moments, he talked of becoming a veterinarian.

Bo and Emily had been dating since October, members of the Scruggs family said. They went roller skating on many weekends, said Bo's friend Jacob King, 16, of Rustburg.

Scruggs, Quarles and Dobyns were often together.

"If you see Bo, you saw Emily, and where Bo and Emily were, there was Morgan," Ashley Scruggs said.

"He was the annoying little brother," she said, with affection. "Everybody loved him. He was something else."

Contact Reed Williams at (804) 649-6332 or rwilliams@timesdispatch.com.

Contact Bill McKelway at (804) 649-6601 or bmckelway@timesdispatch.com.