Man and woman found dead in Bunker Hill Road home

Sunday, Feb. 24 | By Mark Grandstaff

Police are looking for a Fredericksburg man in connection with the slaying of an elderly couple in their home near The Plains.

Police cars lined Bunker Hill Road near The Plains Sunday afternoon after a call from concerned friends turned into a homicide investigation.

At 11 a.m., the Fauquier County Sheriff's Office went to check on a house in the 7200 block of Bunker Hill Road at the behest of the residents' friends, who had not seen them at church, said Lt. James Hartman, sheriff's office spokesman.

Deputies checked the house, finding the door locked, with no vehicles in the driveway.

"Initially it appeared that nobody was home and that everything was fine," Hartman said.

The deputies returned at 1:15 p.m. with a family member who had a key. When the key didn't work, deputies got into the house through a window.

Inside, they found a man and a woman dead - Nelson Slack, 80, and his wife, Ethel Slack, 74.

Both suffered "trauma to the upper body," Hartman said.

The Slacks' vehicle, taken from their home, was later found in Fredericksburg, Va. and impounded by the sheriff's office.

Hartman identified John Wesley Jeffries, 60, of Fredericksburg, as a "person of interest."

A vehicle known to be operated by Jeffries was found about a half mile from the Slacks' home.

Jeffries is currently wanted by the Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office for unrelated felony charges of abduction, strangling and malicious wounding, Hartman said.

Jeffries is registered as a violent sex offender in Virginia. He is considered armed and dangerous, Hartman said. Anyone coming into contact with him should use extreme caution and call 9-1-1 immediately.

Crime scene investigators from the sheriff's office and Virginia State Police are continuing to investigate the deaths.

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