Tent-dweller charged in murder

After watching police arrest Matthew Alan Painter on a murder charge Saturday night, Diane Lashley said she felt better with him behind bars.

“I’m glad he’s away from us, right now,” Lashley said.

Police charged Painter, 36, of Waynesboro, after they said he killed John Kelley Miller, 44, and left his body in the South River. He faces counts of second-degree murder and concealment of a human body.

Lashley’s fiance, Nicholas Adam Holloway, 24, of Waynesboro, is also charged with concealment of a human body.

Authorities said Miller died Friday, but would not release the cause of death.

The arrests came 26 hours after police launched a homicide investigation when an anonymous tip alerted them to Miller’s body in the river. Officers found Miller downstream from the Broad Street bridge, beneath the shadows of thick-leafed trees and a railroad trestle.

Neighbors and police said Painter lived a short distance away, down a deer path into the woods, in a small tent settlement. It was there where Painter and Miller descended into the throes of an argument, police said.

“And then they put him in the river,” Sgt. Kelly Walker said.

Lying in the cold stream of the river, Miller’s arms were draped over his abdomen when police found him. That repose left onlookers in speculation, even a day after the arrests.

“When I first saw it, my legs felt like they were going to give out on me,” said Nancy McGilvery, of Port Republic Road.

Renters at 208 Port Republic Road watched Saturday night as officers marched into apartment seven, Holloway’s unit, to arrest Painter. A short distance away, police cuffed Holloway at the Shell gas station at 301 N. Broad St.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney David Ledbetter said the investigation was quick and thorough, a mark of police professionalism.

“It was a very impressive effort by all the investigators and patrol officers,” Ledbetter said.

Police spent Saturday combing the woods near the South River, including a small tent village.

“For years, that’s been a place for homeless people to camp,” Sgt. Kelly Walker said.

He described the area as having unclear ownership. Some portions are owned by the city, some by a private company and some by a rail company.

A reporter on Saturday found no people at the camp, but beer bottles, clothing and four tents.

McGilvery said she knew Holloway well, and occasionally saw Painter. Describing Holloway more as a follower than a leader, she wondered about his involvement.

“When it comes to a real confrontation, he’d walk away,” she said.

Edward Coffey, of Twelfth Street, agreed with McGilvery, and added both men became cocky and rowdy after drinking.

“I think it was just some guys who got on the river drinking,” Coffey said. “And either an accident happened or things got out of hand.”

In recent years, both men have been charged with public intoxication, court records show.

Worried about her fiancé, who she said needs medication for epilepsy, Lashley said she questions Holloway’s role as well.

“I don’t think he’d be part of anything like that,” she said. “That just gives me the cold chills, I’m sorry.”

Lashley said she does not know what to tell her 13-year-old daughter about the charges against Holloway, a man the girl calls “dad.”

Miller, who lived at 260 N. Commerce Ave. with his girlfriend, was remembered by friends as a man who got along well with children but who drank often. Court records show police charged Miller more than two dozen times since 2005.

The men, now held at Middle River Regional Jail in Verona, have extensive criminal histories, court records show.

Since 1998, Painter has been convicted of unlawful wounding, possession of marijuana, violating probation and telephone threats.

In 2009, Holloway was convicted of public intoxication. A year before, he was convicted on two counts he had consensual intercourse with a minor, and of riding a moped without a helmet.

The men, held without bond, are to appear in Waynesboro General District Court this morning.