Free Republic

Authorities investigated the mysteries surrounding the death of U.S. Senate aide Fred Hutchins on Wednesday, a day after his body was found beside his sport utility vehicle on U.S. 220 near Fincastle. "We're just working to let the evidence go wherever it goes," said Botetourt County Sheriff's Maj. Delbert Dudding. One of his deputies obtained a search warrant to look through the downtown Roanoke apartment of Hutchins, who was 26 and ran U.S. Sen. Jim Webb's office in Roanoke County. According to the search warrant, potential evidence was sought that might exist in Hutchins' computer, his cellphone, his answering machine...

Authorities in Botetourt County this morning discovered the body of a well-known Democratic operative and U.S. Senate aide along U.S. 220, dead from an apparent gunshot wound. The body of Frederick W. Hutchins Jr., 26, of Roanoke was found shortly after 7 a.m. along southbound U.S. 220 by a Botetourt County deputy who had stopped to check on a vehicle parked on the highway's shoulder, according to the sheriff's office. Hutchins was an aide to U.S. Senator Jim Webb, D-Va. Hutchins had been shot in the head, and a gun was found beneath his body, Sheriff Ronnie Sprinkle said. The...