Va. Tech in Mourning, This Time for Couple Slain Off Campus

BLACKSBURG, Va., Aug. 28 -- In what has become a sadly familiar ritual, about 100 students huddled together Friday on the Drillfield at the heart of the Virginia Tech campus, weeping and singing hymns as they mourned two slain classmates.

Heidi Childs, 18, and David Metzler, 19, bright and promising students who were active in Campus Crusade for Christ, were found fatally shot Thursday morning in a national park about 15 miles from campus. Police said Friday that they had no suspects.

The deaths of the young couple, during the first week of classes, shook a community that has endured a string of tragedies. In April 2007, it became the site of the worst mass killing by an individual in U.S. history when a troubled student fatally shot 32 people and himself. In January, a student was decapitated in a campus cafe, and a classmate was charged.

"It's more disbelief," said Olivia Kasik, 19, a sophomore from Woodbridge. "It happened again. You can't really wrap your head around it."

At Burruss Hall, the administration building, flags were lowered to half-staff. A wreath bore the names of Childs and Metzler. Some professors took time before class to talk about the shootings.

In a letter to the campus community, Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger urged students to seek support and solace from one another or counselors.

"Once again, this community is visited by senseless violence and tragedy upon aspiring young minds from our campus," Steger wrote. "I know that many of you likely have complex feelings about now. How can this happen in this area, at this time, to this community?"

Montgomery County sheriff's officials said a passerby at Caldwell Fields, a popular hangout for Virginia Tech students in Jefferson National Forest, found the couple dead in the parking area about 8 a.m. Thursday. Metzler was in his car; Childs was outside the car.

Lt. Brian Wright of the sheriff's office said the two sophomores apparently went alone to the remote camping and picnicking area. They were last heard from Wednesday night. No guns were found, he said.

Wright said investigators have not found links to any other crimes and are asking anyone who had been in contact with the couple to call police.

"You have two real good kids just trying to have a nice evening, and they were killed for apparently no reason," Wright said.

Childs, of Forest, Va., was the daughter of Virginia State Police Sgt. Donald Childs and was studying biochemistry. Metzler, of Lynchburg, studied industrial and systems engineering.