Virginia Grand Jury Charges Two With Burning, Beheading Man

Two white men accused of dousing a black man with gasoline, burning him alive and then beheading his corpse after a night of heavy drinking were indicted Friday on murder charges.

The Grayson County grand jury found there is enough evidence to charge Louis Ceparano, 42, with capital murder and Emmett Cressell Jr., 36, with first-degree murder.

Both men were also indicted on a robbery charge for allegedly taking the victim’s watch during an all-night party.

No trial date has been set.

Police say Ceparano and Cressell, along with two women, had been drinking heavily at a party at Ceparano’s trailer in mountainous Grayson County when they attacked Garnett P. Johnson on July 25.

During an October hearing, one of the women, Christy Harden, testified that Johnson begged the two men to “just shoot me” as they carried him outside the trailer.

A sheriff’s deputy testified that when he arrived at the trailer, he found Johnson’s body still smoldering and his head lying in a hole that had been dug nearby.

If convicted, Ceparano could be sentenced to death and Cressell could get life in prison.

The Justice Department is investigating whether the killing was a racially motivated hate crime.

Representatives of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference are monitoring the case.