Prosecution: Motive in Three Killings? Failed Child Custody Case, Report Says

Prosecutors in the Charles Severance case are saying he was motivated to allegedly murder three prominent Alexandria residents because of a years-ago failed child custody case, a report in Friday’s Washington Post says.

At the time of the custody case, Severance reportedly lived in Alexandria’s Park Fairfax neighborhood and was angry at the court system and establishment figures, the story notes prosecutors as saying.

Fast forward to this fall, on Sept. 8, the Alexandria Police Department charged Charles Severance in the homicides of three prominent Alexandrians: Nancy Dunning, Ruthanne Lodato and Ron Kirby, all shot at their homes, in the middle of the day.

Severance was indicted on the following charges related to the three investigations:

• Nancy Dunning Case: First Degree Murder and Use of a Firearm in the Commission of a Felony
• Ron Kirby Case: Capital Murder, Use of a Firearm in the Commission of a Felony, Possession of a Firearm by a Felon
• Ruthanne Lodato Case: Capital Murder, two counts of Use of a Firearm in the Commission of a Felony, Possession of a Firearm by a Felon, and Malicious Wounding

In addition to the motive, prosecutors also reveal that they think the “mystery man” seen in surveillance video at the Potomac Yards Target store, where Nancy Dunning was last seen, bears a striking resemblance to Charles Severance, NBC-4 reported.

Eleven years ago this week, Dunning was found deceased in her home from multiple gunshot wounds. Dunning was a well-known real estate agent and wife of then Alexandria Sheriff, Jim Dunning.

In February 2014, the Police Department received forensic reports from the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Department of Forensic Science regarding the recent homicide of Lodato in comparison to evidence collected in previous homicides.

Analysis shows that, “the items (bullets) exhibit the same general rifling class and characteristics and are similar in design to evidence (bullets) submitted in both Kirby and Dunning cases. However, the results of the microscopic comparisons were inconclusive. It was not possible to identity or eliminate these bullets as having been fired from the same firearm.”

As a result, the Police Department felt there were enough similarities between the bullets in the homicide investigations of Nancy Dunning (2003), Ron Kirby (2013), and Ruthanne Lodato (2014) to link the crimes together.

NBC-4 reported that a court document filed Thursday showed Severance had a “disturbing fascination” with the make and model of firearm used in all three killings.

“The defendant [in a writing] calls the make and model of firearm ‘beautiful, tiny, and deadly’,” the TV station reported a court document said. “...The defendant stated that the ammunition, when fired, is ‘sweet music and very, very effective’.”

Two other interesting details from the Post’s look at the prosecution’s court filings:

• Lodato said before she died that she did not know the person who shot her.
• Prosecutors ”alleged that Severance tried to escape confinement in West Virginia by taking a rope of knotted bedsheets into the recreation yard and trying to measure the jail fence.”

PHOTOS: Target store surveillance video photo released to media; Charles Severance photo dated 1999, from his Web site: mentaldisorder.com

Mug shot of Charles Severance

Nancy Dunning, Ruthanne Lodato and Ronald Kirby