Special Report
Heidi Childs and David MetzlerGet more coverage, including past stories, the teens' obituaries and a link to an online prayer group in their memory.
Nearly three weeks after two local Virginia Tech students were found slain in Montgomery County, a local cardiologist is attempting to gather money to put toward a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of their killer.
David Metzler, of Campbell County, and Heidi Childs, of Forest, were found dead near the Caldwell Fields camping area, about 15 miles north of the Tech campus, the morning of Aug. 27.
Officials said they consider the deaths a double homicide.
Dr. Chad Hoyt, of Lynchburg, said Metzler’s father, Dr. Keith Metzler, approached him last week about trying to set up a reward.
“We really want to get this (person) that did this,” Hoyt said.
He said the reward compilation is being coordinated by state police, who advised him to set the threshold for the reward so high.
“They basically said that when you get to that level, people tend to start to talk,” he said.
Hoyt said in less than a week, donors from the medical community have raised $30,000, in addition to $10,000 from Virginia Tech. He’s hoping for just as big of an outpouring from the local community.
“I know that there are lots of families in the area that are wondering how can they do something, and I know they would like to donate to the cause,” Hoyt said.
As a father of three children, and friend of one of the families, Hoyt said hearing about the deaths hit him hard.
“I’ve got three children and a wife … you just can’t imagine the pain,” he said.
“You put yourself in his place as a dad, or her place as a mom, for either family … it’s just too painful to even think about,” he said.
“You just can’t allow yourself to think about it for more than a few seconds.”
For Hoyt, police can’t catch the perpetrator quickly enough.
He said he hopes to have the $100,000 raised within a few weeks.
“If we can get more than ($100,000), that would be great,” he said.
“Anything we can do to get this (person).”
“You just pray every day that you just would not forget the pain that they’re going through, because they really need everybody to kind of rally around them and help them in any way they can,” he said.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office released last week the formation of a nine-agency task force, comprised of local, state and federal law enforcement, basing their operations out of Montgomery County.
The sheriff’s office is still seeking information from those who may have been in the Caldwell Fields area between 8 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 26, and 8 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 27.
Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff’s office at (540) 382-7313.
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