HENRICO TO EXHUME MAN'S BODY / HE HAD LIVED WITH DRUG-INJECTION-CASE FIGURE

The body of a man who died 2 years ago will be exhumed by Henrico County
authorities to determine whether he met with foul play.

The man once lived with a woman who recently was charged with injecting an
elderly Henrico man with drugs in a bizarre scheme to steal his money and
house.

Sometime during the next several days, county police and prosecutors will
oversee the exhumation of Robert Wayne Armstrong Sr., who died June 30,
1996, at age 56. Armstrong had lived for a time with Patricia Ann Price in
Henrico's Newbridge Village Apartments off Nine Mile Road. In late October,
Price was charged with injecting 78-year-old Roman Klatkiewicz with heroin
and cocaine after she and her boyfriend moved into Klatkiewicz's Highland
Springs home.

Police say they believe Price was attempting to steal Klatkiewicz's money
and house and to make her the sole beneficiary of his estate. Price and her
boyfriend, Thomas Brooks, had been living with Klatkiewicz, whose wife died
in 1987, for about a month at his home on North Quince Avenue until police
were alerted of his situation.

Price, 39, was charged with malicious wounding, possession with intent to
distribute heroin and cocaine, possession of heroin and possession of drug
paraphernalia.

Henrico Circuit Judge Buford M. Parsons Jr. signed an order this week that
will allow Armstrong's remains, buried in Maury Cemetery in Richmond, to be
exhumed for an autopsy. The exhumation may take place tomorrow.

"The investigation into certain things has led us to believe that an
autopsy should be performed on that body," Henrico Commonwealth's Attorney
Toby Vick said yesterday.

"It's been 2 years since he was buried," Vick added, "so I'm not sure
exactly what can be done. That's up to the medical examiner's office."

Because of the ongoing nature of the investigation, Vick declined to say
what prompted authorities to have Armstrong's remains exhumed. But sources
say it partly involves allegations that Price had administered prescription
drugs to Armstrong in the weeks before he died.

Armstrong's son and daughter have told police that Price moved in with
their father in 1996 and was with him the night he died.

Dottie Armstrong-Gray said she doesn't know how her father and Price met.
She said she was in college in Nebraska and her father called and asked her
to return home because he was growing ill. Price was living with him then,
she said.

At one point, Price and her daughter were living with Armstrong,
Armstrong-Gray said.

"When it was time for me to move down here, [Price] had moved out and into
her own apartment," Armstrong-Gray said. But Price later moved back in
after she lost her apartment, she said.

"They were just friends," Armstrong-Gray said. "My father couldn't read so
she would like help him fill out his bills and stuff like that. We didn't
get along at all because I just felt that something was wrong."

Armstrong was hospitalized for about a month before he died, Armstrong-Gray
said, but his condition improved and he was allowed to return home.

Several days later, while Armstrong-Gray was spending the night with a
friend, her father suddenly died, she said. Price was with Armstrong that
night, she said.

"He had oxygen that he had to breathe with and she [Price] said his oxygen
had fallen off and that's when he died," she said.

Armstrong-Gray said her father had two life insurance policies at the time
of his death, although one of them had lapsed. She said Price had Armstrong
make her the beneficiary of both policies and, after his death, she used
the one still in effect -- worth $10,000 -- to help pay for his funeral.

The funeral cost about $5,300, Armstrong-Gray said. What happened to the
balance remains unclear, she said.

Price wrote a check to pay for Armstrong's cemetery plot but it bounced,
Armstrong-Gray said. And that has prevented the family from erecting a
grave stone, because the plot was never paid for, she said.

"The cemetery people won't let the stone people bring the stone in until
the [plot] is paid for, and they won't let us pay for it because she wrote
a bad check," Armstrong-Gray said. "They said they need to find her first."

Angela Jackson-Archer, spokeswoman for Richmond's parks and recreation
department which maintains the cemetery, confirmed that the check bounced.
"It is our policy that no headstone can be erected until the plot is paid
for," she said.

But Jackson-Archer said the family can pay for the plot themselves if
that's what they desire.

In the Highland Springs case, police said Price is accused of injecting
Klatkiewicz with drugs in an apparent effort to take advantage of him.
Klatkiewicz was told he was being given cold medication, authorities said.

Police and family members said Price and Klatkiewicz met at a Henrico
restaurant in early October, and she and her boyfriend soon moved in.
Klatkiewicz was lonely and looking for companionship, they said.

Police and family members said Price succeeded in having Klatkiewicz change
his will, making Price and her boyfriend the sole beneficiaries. Police
also are investigating the loss of at least $20,000 from Klatkiewicz's
checking account and the manipulation of his credit cards. Mike Bew, one of
Klatkiewicz's grandsons, said his grandfather had given Price and her
boyfriend power of attorney and had willed all of his possessions to them.
He also signed over the deed to his house, but he hid the new deed instead
of taking it to the courthouse to be recorded, Bew said.

Klatkiewicz's situation came to light after one of his neighbors contacted
a family member, who in turn called police. Klatkiewicz is now staying with
Bew in Fayetteville, N.C.

Price is being held in the Henrico Jail in lieu of $125,000 bond pending
her next hearing on Jan. 6 in Henrico General District Court.

Checked-by: Richard Lake