Philadelphia Inquirer
Saturday, April 27, 2002
In Colo., rape suspect hears charges against him
Troy Graves, accused of being the Center City rapist, also learned that he could face the death penalty in a 1998 slaying.
By Barbara Boyer and Larry Fish,
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The man charged as the Center City rapist appeared in court yesterday facing new sexual-assault charges here and also learned he could face the death penalty for the slaying of Philadelphia grad student Shannon Schieber.
Troy Graves, 29, showed little emotion until he heard a list of Philadelphia charges that included murder and rape. He remained composed, but began blinking repeatedly, perhaps holding back tears, as he appeared via closed-circuit TV before Larimer County Judge C. Edward Stirman.
Graves has been charged with 27 counts of sexual assault, kidnapping and robbery in attacks on six women in this college town between May 10, 2001, and April 12 and on six women in Philadelphia, including Schieber, 23, who was strangled May 7, 1998, inside her apartment. An Air Force enlisted man, Graves was held without bail on the Philadelphia charges.
"He is looking at a capital offense," said Ben Lammons of the Larimer County District Attorney's Office. "He is looking at murder, and he is looking at a possible death sentence."
In the packed courtroom, spectators included students from Colorado State University who watched the television monitor closely throughout the proceeding.
Juniors Teresa Veltri and Charity Stackley said they lived across the street from Graves when the assaults occurred and came to court to see what he looked like.
"We weren't direct victims, but we lived in the area that he was in, raping all these girls," Stackley said. "It's scary that he looked like a normal person like I see at the grocery store and like I see on campus every day."
The women said that fear prevailed on campus and that they were glad an arrest was finally made.
The Fort Collins attacks were similar to those in Philadelphia. In both cities, the rapist attacked young women alone in their apartments in the middle of the night after making his way in through an unlocked window or door.
Graves said little in court beyond "Yes, sir" when responding to routine questions from the judge. When asked about his education, Graves responded: "Twelfth grade, sir. GED."
Represented for the time being by Kathryn Hay of the Larimer County Public Defender's Office, Graves remained last night at the Larimer County Detention Center. He is in a special section but shares a cell with another inmate.
No decision was made yesterday on whether Graves will be tried first in Colorado or in Pennsylvania.
Cathie Abookire, a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, said a formal request will go from Gov. Schweiker to Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, who has the final decision.
Graves' first appearance in District Court is scheduled for Monday. At that time, the judge may consider a request to lift the gag order barring law-enforcement officials and lawyers from discussing the case.
Alden V. Hill, attorney for the Fort Collins newspaper, filed a motion to have the gag lifted, saying it was overbroad and threatened First Amendment rights.
"Gag orders are like cancer," Hill told the judge. "They start in one case, and they spread."
The gag order has kept officials tight-lipped about details of the investigation, including exactly how Graves turned into a suspect.
Fort Collins police have said only that, after DNA samples showed the Fort Collins and Philadelphia attacks to have been carried out by the same person, they began compiling a list of men who had moved to their town from Philadelphia in keeping with the time frame of the attacks.
Graves joined the Air Force in October 1999 and was assigned after training to Warren Air Force Base 40 miles north of here in Cheyenne, Wyo.
Graves and his wife, Amy Wade, had been living here since at least last fall in a rented duplex a few blocks west of the Colorado State campus.
