Hanover, VA: Warrant: Hanover woman’s death disguised as suicide

By BILL MCKELWAY
Published: May 27, 2010

A widowed Hanover County woman found dead last week in the home she had shared with a companion was smothered, according to the state medical examiner's office.
Russell C. Chalkley, 48, is being held without bond and is charged with the first-degree murder of Helen A. Dickerson, whose May 20 death was disguised as a suicide, according to court documents filed yesterday.
Dickerson, 67, was discovered after Chalkley called a relative of his about 5:30 p.m. and told her that "he had purposely smothered his girlfriend . . . and then intentionally put pills in her mouth to make it look like a suicide," a search warrant filed yesterday states.
Hanover authorities said the relative called the county Sheriff's Office about 90 minutes later and that investigators then discovered Dickerson's body inside her leased residence in the 6400 block of White Oak Ridge Drive near Cold Harbor. She was found dead on a couch with a pillow nearby "that appeared to have an indentation on it," according to the search warrant.
Dickerson was a familiar figure in the Virginia Center Commons area, where she was a former hostess at an O'Charley's Restaurant and regularly frequented a beauty salon and drugstore.
"We all loved her; she was full of life and as chatty as she could be," said a former co-worker at the restaurant, Angel Glore. She said Dickerson had undergone major weight-reduction surgery and was frequently accompanied by Chalkley, who at 6 feet 6 inches tall towered over her.
But court records suggest a tempestuous relationship between Chalkley and Dickerson, a twice-widowed woman who, Glore said, was meticulous about keeping her hair coifed, her nails manicured and her clothes fashionable. Chalkley, who occasionally worked at area junkyards, had a criminal record with 11 felony convictions.
Dickerson had taken out a protective order against Chalkley in early April and charged him with assault, but he was released on bond April 11, according to court records. The protective order expired in late April.
Dickerson wrote on a complaint form that Chalkley had threatened to kill her, had choked her and was using her credit card without authorization.
"Enough is enough," she wrote. "I am just scared. I don't want to be near drugs!!!"
The medical examiner's office said yesterday that no one has come forward to claim Dickerson's body.
Chalkley was arrested at 9:43 the night of the killing at a truck stop in Caroline County; he was sitting in a truck that contained "a female dress shirt" and a lease agreement for the White Oak Ridge Drive home.
Chalkley is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in August.