Powell had plot to kill girls' mom

MANASSAS, Paul Warner Powell, the man charged with fatally stabbing Stacie Reed and attacking her sister Kristie, tried to ask his friend to scare Kristie into not testifying against him, according to evidence presented in his trial Wednesday.
Powell, 22, also had planned to kill the girls' mother, Lorraine Reed Culver, and her husband, Robert Culver, who was her fiancee at the time of the attack, according to letters he wrote.
Jurors heard evidence on Wednesday that created a startling image of Powell's personality and beliefs.
His trial on charges of capital murder and nine other offenses began Monday in Prince William Circuit Court. He is accused of the attack on Jan. 29, 1999, at Stacie and Kristie Reed's home near the Yorkshire area.
Kristie Reed, 15, who was stabbed and sexually assaulted by Powell, testified against him Tuesday.
Prince William police Sgt. Richard Leonard investigated letters Powell tried to send from the Prince William-Manassas regional jail through other inmates without their permission.
One letter Powell wrote to a female friend of his asked her "to threaten Kristie Reed not to testify, " Leonard testified Wednesday.
Powell also wrote letters about his plan to kill the entire Reed family.
Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert read from one:, "Kristie was supposed to die and then I was going to wait for her mom and step dad to come home and then I was going to kill them and take the mom's truck, " Powell wrote.
Powell had planned to flee to another state, maybe Pennsylvania or North Carolina, according to testimony.
The former Fredericksburg area resident told Prince William police he got in a fight with Stacie, 16, and attacked her because he was angry that her boyfriend was black.
Jurors watched a Jan. 30, 1999, videotaped interview between Powell and Leonard, who was a detective at the time. The interview was done shortly after Powell was arrested in Manassas.
"Why did Stacie die?" Leonard asked Powell in the interview.
"Because she's stupid, " Powell casually responded.
In the taped interview, Powell laughed throughout as he leaned back in his chair, dangling his legs and resting the back of his head on the wall at the county's Gar-Field police station.
"She got stuck, " he told Leonard in the interview, referring to his stabbing of Stacie.
Powell told the detective he wanted Stacie, whom he had known for several years, to break up with her boyfriend. Powell made derogatory comments about her boyfriend's race, which prosecutors allege provided motive for the killing.
Most of Powell's answers to Leonard's questions included obscenities.
During three subsequent interviews with Leonard, Powell admitted to attacking Kristie Reed and used graphic language to describe the assault, in which he bound the girl and slit her throat.
Powell claimed to be racist.
He thought Hitler was God but had never heard of Joseph Stalin. He didn't like blacks: "They ain't human ... I don't like any of them, " Powell said.
Powell disapproved of interracial relationships and said he felt like he could kill a lot of people "just for something to do." He and a friend had discussed going on a killing spree, "everybody that wasn't white" would be targeted, he said.
"What's it going to accomplish?" Leonard asked Powell on the tape.
"They weren't white, let them die, " Powell said.
When Leonard pressed Powell during their first interview about whether he wanted to date Stacie, Powell's nonchalant mood changed. He began to cry and stopped talking.
"Tell me what you're feeling. Let it out now, " Leonard told Powell. But Powell didn't have much more to say during that initial interview.
Jurors also heard evidence Wednesday from two doctors at Inova Fairfax Hospital who treated Kristie Reed and from Frances P. Field, a state medical examiner in northern Virginia.
Field testified as jurors looked at photos of Stacie's body and heart that were displayed on a video monitor.
Her heart had one entrance wound and two exit wounds. That likely resulted from a knife being inserted, partially withdrawn, and inserted again, Field testified.
Prosecutors rested Wednesday after three days of presenting evidence. Attorneys will give closing arguments today and the jury is expected to begin deliberations.
Powell could receive a death sentence if convicted of capital murder.