Parents of slain Va. Tech couple await justice

By Shawna Morrison

Keith Metzler and Don Childs certainly want to see whoever killed their children brought to justice.

But for them, the fathers of a young Virginia Tech couple shot to death in a pastoral forest setting nearly a year ago, that desire is secondary to the pain they've felt with every holiday, every special occasion, every day.

"Probably the investigation is more of a primary concern to other people rather than us," Metzler said Friday at his Lynchburg home, where he and his wife, Susan, and Don and Laura Childs met to talk about the past year. "We miss our son and our son's girlfriend."

Aug. 26 will mark one year since David Metzler, 19, of Lynchburg and Heidi Childs, 18, of Forest were killed where they had parked in a day-use area at Caldwell Fields campground in the Jefferson National Forest on Craig Creek Road, which connects Montgomery and Craig counties.

The couple had arrived at the site from Blacksburg about 9 p.m. with plans to talk and play guitar. Their bodies were found the next morning.

Both had been shot. Metzler was inside his car, a dark 1992 Toyota Camry. Childs was outside it.

No one has been arrested in connection with the killings, which investigators have called random. A $70,000 reward is offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

Monday, investigators met with reporters to again plead that anyone with information about the case come forward.

The 15 law enforcement officers from eight different agencies assigned to a task force investigating the killings have pursued more than 1,100 leads, said Investigator Dennis Rakes with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.

It can take weeks to chase one lead, Montgomery County Sheriff Tommy Whitt said before the news conference.

"We follow it out until we can either disprove it or keep them for the future," he said.

Whitt said some suspects had been found but later ruled out.

"It's an emotional roller coaster," Whitt said. "You think you have something, and then the bottom drops out of it."

Rakes said investigators believe the killer is someone who is very familiar with the Caldwell Fields area -- a popular place to camp, hike and fish.

"We probably would not recognize the individual as a monster," Rakes said, but the person may have acted strangely about the time of the killings and may be abnormally interested in the case.

Investigators remain tight-lipped on many details of the crimes, a common move in ongoing investigations because only the killer or killers will know exactly what happened.

Asked if he feels like a year has passed since he lost his daughter, Don Childs said: "I wake up sometimes and I feel like it was yesterday, and I actually look at her picture and say, 'Is this real still?' "

Childs said his family has been able to get through the past year only "through the grace of God, family and friends."

Virginia State Police Capt. George Austin called Childs, who retired in May from his job as a state police sergeant, "one of the strongest men of faith I've ever met in my life."

He said the dedication of the group investigating the killings means a lot to him "and the Virginia State Police family."

In the spring, Metzler's and Childs' parents visited Caldwell Fields for the first time.

"It's kind of a surreal thing to see the spot where your son and his girlfriend entered eternity and they met their Lord," Keith Metzler said.

They also visited the office where task force members -- who keep in touch with them as often as several times a week -- work on the investigation.

Metzler described the visit as humbling, gratifying and heartbreaking. He said he was impressed with the work being done.

"Someday they will finish the investigation and make an arrest," Childs said. "So this person is looking over their shoulder. I wouldn't want to be looking over my shoulder, not with this team."

As time goes by, FBI supervisor Kevin Foust said, leads tend to come in with less frequency.

"This particular case, it was such a heinous crime, all the investigators want to be careful in viewing every possible angle we can look at," Foust said.

Asked why he chose the word "heinous," Foust said: "It's absolutely wrong, and I think it's absolutely heinous, for anybody to die in this fashion, cold-blooded murder like this."

But, he said, the passage of time doesn't make the crime more difficult to solve.

"We've had people look at what we've done and basically said, 'Are we on track?' " Whitt said. He said investigators have been told that they are.

Whitt said he feels confident the crime will be solved and hopes a resolution comes "sooner rather than later."

"The point-blank brutality is just so senseless, and I don't think this individual is going to be stable enough to not do this again," Metzler said.

"This just needs to be squared away and he needs to be -- he or she, whoever, they -- need to be found before it happens again," he said.

"So another family doesn't have to deal with the hurt and the loss."