Mindless killings

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: July 24, 2008

This week’s killing in Reidsville comes just days after a woman was stabbed to death in Danville, Va., and several weeks after a baby was slain in an Eden motel room.
On Wednesday, Karen Denise Atkins of Danville was found on a front porch. She had multiple stab wounds. Steven Cumberbatch, 46, of Danville, was charged with first-degree murder, Danville police said.
On June 19, Eden police charged a man with killing an 11-month-old baby at the Mar-Gre Motel on Van Buren Road. Luther Qwama Martin, 18, of 421 Moir St. in Eden, was charged with first-degree murder. He lived at the hotel with the baby, Antonio Devon Bridges, and the mother, Jamica Woodard.
Reidsville’s first homicide since July 29 of last year happened late Tuesday or early Wednesday, when a friend found David James Martin, 58, dead in Martin’s kitchen at 123 S. Franklin St. No arrests had been made as of Thursday afternoon.
On July 29, 2007, Reidsville’s only confirmed killing happened not far from where Martin was killed. The body of Terresa Laverne Cunningham was found near Snead and Michael streets. She had been shot multiple times. Lavan Laforrest Sanders of Greensboro was charged in the killing. In 2006, Reidsville had two reported killings, according to the FBI.
Martin’s killing is troubling because—aside from it happening in what Reidsville police Lt. Wendell Neville called a “residential, church” area – there was no apparent motive. Police say nothing appeared missing from the home, and there was no sign of forced entry. Yet Martin was brutally murdered, apparently stabbed with a knife.
Reidsville police are working to make the city a safer place, as shown by the recent string of drug arrests. And we believe police will quickly close the case with an arrest. Maybe then we can get some answers, but that will do little to dull the pain that comes with such mindless killings.