Standoff in Alabama ends with suicide

updated 5:50 p.m. ET Sept. 6, 2004

OXFORD, Ala. - A fugitive ex-convict wanted for rape and murder committed suicide, ending a standoff with police shortly after he released a 14-year-old hostage.

Walter George Honea Jr., 34, of Anniston shot himself about 11:30 p.m. Friday as authorities prepared to shoot tear gas into the motel room where he had been negotiating with officers, police said.

“This is not the way we wanted this to end,” Anniston police Lt. Rocky Stemen said. “We wanted him to come out peacefully.”

Police said Honea kidnapped Jordan Nichole Todaro late Thursday from the convenience store where he fatally shot her mother, Linda Michelle Davis, 34, and stepfather, Joshua Benjamin Davis, 24.

The couple and the girl were working at the Anniston Sparkle Mart. The store’s surveillance camera captured the abduction, police said.

Police issued an Amber Alert for Todaro after viewing the videotape, but it was canceled after she and Honea were located at the Best Value Inn in Oxford, only a few miles from the convenience store.

Stemen said Honea voluntarily released Todaro about 8:30 p.m. Friday. He said she was taken to a hospital for medical evaluation and appeared to be in good condition.

Honea told a police negotiator over the telephone that he would release Todaro at 7 a.m. Friday if he could speak with his uncle and a preacher, according to police radio communications.

A half-hour later, Honea told police he had the barrel of a handgun in Todaro’s mouth.

Police obtained warrants Friday for Honea’s arrest on charges of capital murder and kidnapping.

Honea had been on the run since Wednesday, when the district attorney’s office issued an arrest warrant for him on a rape charge.

Honea was released from prison in February after serving more than 3½ years of a 10-year sentence for second-degree assault in Talladega County, according to the Department of Corrections. He was freed under a law that allows inmates to be released early for good behavior.

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