Philadelphia Inquirer
Friday, May 17, 2002

Hearing for Graves in Colo. today

By Barbara Boyer and Thomas J. Gibbons Jr.,
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

A Colorado judge abruptly scheduled a court appearance for accused Center City rapist Troy Graves for this afternoon, and law-enforcement officials said Graves was expected to plead guilty to charges there.

Graves, 30, a former Philadelphia resident charged with attacking eight women in Fort Collins, Colo., and six women in Philadelphia - including Wharton School graduate student Shannon Schieber, who was killed - is to appear today before District Judge Terence A. Gilmore.

Although Graves is expected to enter a plea at his arraignment, Colorado officials did not confirm last night that Graves had made a deal with them.

Graves, an Air Force enlisted man stationed at Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyo., would still have the option of later withdrawing any plea he entered and opting for a trial.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson said he was told there had been discussion between a Colorado official and the Philadelphia homicide unit about Graves' pleading guilty today, but he said he had not received official notification of a plea agreement.

"I hope it's true," Johnson said. "It will expedite the case to bring him back here sooner."

Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham has said she wants Graves returned to face charges here, but the decision ultimately will be up to Colorado's governor.

Abraham's spokeswoman, Cathie Abookire, said last night she could not say whether Abraham had been notified of any plea agreement between Graves and prosecutors.

Graves' public defender, Kathryn Hay, could not be reached for comment last night.

From the time Graves was arrested in Colorado last month, officials there and in Pennsylvania have kept a tight lid on information after a gag order was issued in Fort Collins.

Yesterday, in a strange turn of events, shortly after Gilmore scheduled Graves to appear in court today at 2 p.m. (4 p.m. Philadelphia time), Larimer County District Attorney Stuart A. VanMeveren said he would hold a news conference after the hearing.

Vicki Schieber, Shannon Schieber's mother, said last night that she had not been notified of any agreement between Graves and prosecutors but that she would welcome such news.

"We want justice," Schieber said. "We want him in jail for the rest of his life so he is not able to harm anyone else."

In May 1998, Shannon Schieber, 23, was killed in her Center City apartment. Evidence found at the scene linked the attacker to four other assaults in the city in 1997 and to a fifth attack in 1999.

Last year, Fort Collins police linked the same attacker to several sexual assaults there. By that time, Graves had married a local woman and moved to a house in Fort Collins not far from the Colorado State University campus.

Graves was arrested April 23 and charged with the attacks in both states within days. He has been held without bail since his arrest.