By BILL MCKELWAY
Published: May 22, 2010
A Hanover County woman who wrote the court that her former live-in boyfriend "threatened to snap [her] in half" was found dead in her Pleasant Oak Estates home Thursday, a month after the man was released on bond from an assault charge she had sought.
Hanover deputies arrested Russell Clyde Chalkley, 48, late Thursday night, hours after finding the body of 67-year-old Helen A. Dickerson inside the home she shared with him in the 6400 block of White Oak Ridge Drive.
"He was arrested without incident," Hanover sheriff's Capt. Michael Trice said. He said authorities located Chalkley at a gas station near Carmel Church in Caroline County shortly before midnight.
It was Hanover's first homicide since January 2008.
Trice said investigators found Dickerson's body with no visible signs of trauma after they responded to a call from outside the home indicating Dickerson may be in danger. He said the call did not come from Chalkley.
No cause of death was available last night, but a search warrant shows that investigators recovered a pillow and pillowcase and a blanket.
Chalkley made an appearance yesterday afternoon by video from the Pamunkey Regional Jail and was appointed an attorney. He listed income of $250 a week from an unspecified job.
He told a Hanover Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court judge: "I can't say anything about my actions."
Court records indicate he has worked in area junk and salvage yards.
Chalkley, who is not related to Hanover Commonwealth's Attorney Ramon E. "Trip" Chalkley III, has multiple felony and misdemeanor convictions in Chesterfield and Henrico counties and Richmond, according to court records; he also had been charged with assault last month after Dickerson filed a complaint, according to court records.
The records show Dickerson accused Chalkley in a complaint in April of stealing from her, using her credit card, not helping with household costs, threatening to harm her and using drugs.
She also wrote that Chalkley, who is 6 feet 6 inches tall and weighs more than 200 pounds, had "shoved me through our home" and "choked me."
"Enough is enough," she wrote. "I am just scared. I don't want to be near drugs!!!" She described herself as having made a mistake in the relationship, writing: "What I was, was a sugar mama."
Court records yesterday show Chalkley was released on $10,000 bond April 11. That was three days after he was arrested on a misdemeanor assault charge sought by Dickerson. A protective order that had been in place since April 8 was allowed to expire April 22, two days before Dickerson's 67th birthday.
In seeking an assault charge and protective order against Chalkley, Dickerson wrote: "Mr. Chalkley is on cocaine and I don't want to be near it. He has threatened to snap me in half [and] choked me in our front room."
It was unknown last night whether Dickerson had any immediate survivors.
Chalkley is scheduled to undergo a preliminary hearing in August.
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