Posted on 01/26/2002 3:02:46 AM PST by Movemout
VIRGINIA BEACH -- A woman serving a life sentence for her part in the 1994 execution-style murders of four people at the Witchduck Inn has filed a court petition asking for a portion of her ex-husband's Navy retirement.
Denise R. Holsinger, 37, is seeking a share of the retirement pay now going to her ex-husband, Randall C. Holsinger.
The Holsingers married in December 1984, were separated in May 1993 and divorced in 1996, according to Navy records. Shortly after their separation, Randall Holsinger filed for and was awarded custody of the couple's three children, who now range in age from 12 to 16.
Holsinger, 39, retired from the Navy after 20 years of service on Aug. 1, 2000, as a petty officer first class, according to his lawyer, Bruce Wilcox.
If Denise Holsinger's request is granted, she stands to get about $250 monthly of his $1,177 monthly base retirement pay for as long as Randall Holsinger is alive, Wilcox said. Over 40 years, that would total about $120,000, he said.
On Jan. 11, Circuit Judge Alan E. Rosenblatt ordered that the matter be sent to divorce commissioner Grover C. Wright Jr.
Wright has set a hearing for April 2 to determine equitable distribution of the retirement pay. Wilcox said he doesn't know why Denise Holsinger wants the money.
She was sentenced to five life terms plus 23 years for the Witchduck Inn slayings that are counted among the city's worst mass murders. She is at the Fluvanna Correctional Center and was not available for comment Friday. Her lawyer, Shawn R. Salyer, could not be reached.
Because the murders occurred before the abolition of parole, she will become eligible for parole in July 2011, said a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections.
Although a strict Navy formula determines how much retirement ex-spouses are entitled to, the court is allowed to take other factors into consideration, Wilcox said.
Considering the extraordinary circumstances in this situation, Wilcox said, the outcome is far from certain.
``It should not be automatic,'' Wilcox said. ``The law allows the court to look at all the circumstances.''
Denise Holsinger became one of Virginia Beach's most notorious criminals more than seven years ago when she helped her boyfriend, Michael D. Clagett, plan and carry out the slayings. Each of the four victims -- LamVan Son, 41; Karen S. Rounds, 31; Wendel G. Parrish Jr. 32; and Abdelaziz Gren, 34 -- was shot in the head on June 30, 1994.
The Witchduck Inn restaurant was located in the Pembroke Crossing Shoppes in the 4600 block of Pembroke Blvd. It has since closed.
Holsinger, who had been fired from a waitress job there about a month earlier, engineered the robbery and slayings, fantasizing that she and Clagett would be the next Bonnie and Clyde. She cleaned out the cash register while Clagett forced the victims onto the floor and shot them.
Both were arrested and charged within days of the murders and were convicted in 1995.
Clagett was executed in July 2000.
Reach Jon Frank at 446-2277 or jfrank@pilotonline.com
Clagett was executed in July 2000."
How come she didn't get the death penalty as well? Simply because she didn't actually pull the trigger?
Thank You Patricia Schroeder.
For a 1994 crime - toasted in less than 6 years. Way to go Virginia! We've got one guy here in FL whose been on Death Row for 23 years and SCOTUS just set aside his conviction for "further proceedings". He'll probably die of old age. Sigh.
She's vile.
Now there's an understatement if I ever heard one. ;^)
Something is even more dreadfully wrong if she ever gets out of prison. I imagine she believes she will, and plans on a little "nest egg" built up from her ex-husband's pension when that wonderful day comes.
Of course, she could try to compel her hubby to bring her kids to the prison for visiting day to exercise her visitation rights.
I'm curious: who's representing her? The article doesn't say. If any taxpayer money is going to a group that helps prisoners, the state had better pull their funding ASAP. Of course, her hubby is probably getting no help with HIS legal bills, while he has to support the children and maintain a household for them.
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