Faith, and Friendliness, Helped in Hostage Crisis

Va. Couple Built Rapport With Gunman

By Josh White

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Robert and Frances Belote had just finished a lunch of hot dogs and fresh butter beans from their garden when a man stormed into their Leesburg home through an unlocked back door. The man pointed a revolver at them and shouted: "Give me all your money!"

Frances Belote, 82, watched as the stranger cut a phone cord and used it to tie her 83-year-old husband's hands behind his back. The couple's lazy Friday afternoon on their quiet dead-end street in Leesburg had shattered, and the Belotes feared that the agitated intruder might be the last person they ever saw.

"I said to myself, 'This is the end. This is it,' " Frances said yesterday. "But God was here. We felt his presence, and it gave us peace, and we were able to be calm."

They spent the next nine hours as hostages, held in their bathroom by a gunman who police said had reached the end of a crime spree that included a botched jewelry store robbery, a home invasion and robbery, and the theft of a vehicle.

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Robert and Frances Belote during an interview with the Washington Post about being held hostage by a gunman last Friday at their home in Leesburg, VA. (Marcus Yam)

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Robert Belote during an interview with the Washington Post about being held hostage by a gunman last Friday at their home in Leesburg, VA. (Marcus Yam)

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Robert and Frances Belote during an interview with the Washington Post about being held hostage by a gunman last Friday at their home in Leesburg, VA. (Marcus Yam)

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Frances Belote during an interview with the Washington Post about being held hostage by a gunman last Friday at their home in Leesburg, VA. (Marcus Yam)

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Robert and Frances Belote during an interview with the Washington Post about being held hostage by a gunman last Friday at their home in Leesburg, VA. (Marcus Yam)

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The intruder — identified by police as William Spencer, 49, of Baltimore — planned to rob the Belotes and make off with their car before state police SWAT teams and local and county authorities surrounded the house. In the end, though, the couple's calm demeanor helped police end the standoff peacefully and take the intruder into custody.

Recounting the ordeal on their living room sofa yesterday, the Belotes described an unusual encounter that included fearing for their lives as well as moments of bonding with their assailant. They didn't know Spencer's name during the ordeal, but Spencer called them Bob and Frances.

They said Spencer seemed like a good person, deep down, whose life had gone awry, someone who probably never intended to hurt them and simply happened upon their home while seeking a way to escape police.

"I sensed good feelings from him, that he could be a good person," Frances said. "I was praying for him the whole time."

D. Burke Walker, Spencer's court-appointed lawyer, said his client is cooperating with police and "understands the situation he is in and wants to ease all the problems he has created."

The Belotes spent much of their time as hostages in a bathroom at the end of their home's main hallway, a bathroom Spencer chose because it had no windows. The couple said Spencer took $50 in cash from them — all they had at the time — before rummaging through the home looking for valuables.

At one point, Spencer appeared with three rings in his palm, rings he took from a box on top of a bedroom dresser. Frances saw that they were her engagement ring, her wedding band and an onyx ring celebrating her 50th wedding anniversary. After Spencer remarked that the rings were pretty, she looked him in the eye and calmly told him that those rings are sacred to her and that he couldn't take them.

"I told him to put them back," she said. "And he did. He put them back in the box."

About 3 p.m. — two hours into their captivity — Frances locked the bathroom door from the inside and called police on a cellphone she had in her pocket. She rarely uses the cellphone, but she keeps it with her in case her great-grandson has an emergency and needs to reach her. Spencer heard the tail end of her call and bashed in the door, cracking it, and told the couple that they were now forcing him to stay.

"When he busted the door open, I was afraid he was going to do us in at that moment," said Robert Belote, a retired Washington Post printer. A few minutes later, Spencer tried to leave through the garage and noticed a police officer. It was then that he apparently fired one bullet through the home's back wall. The bullet ricocheted off a mower in the garage and went through the garage door.

Spencer then pushed a clothes dryer in front of the back door, effectively sealing himself in. Police at some point slipped into the garage and emptied the air from the tires on the right side of the Belote's Buick sedan, Robert said, to slow down Spencer if he tried to leave with the car.

The standoff with an enormous police force outside, including helicopters circling over the evacuated neighborhood, lasted about seven more hours. Inside, Spencer told the Belotes that he was looking for a way out, perhaps waiting until dark to slip through the back yard.

"I put my hand on his shoulder and told him that he'd gotten himself in a heck of a mess," Robert said. "He said, 'I know.' "

Police said part of the reason the standoff ultimately ended peacefully, with Spencer walking out the door unarmed, was because the Belotes established a rapport with him. The Belotes, who are Baptists, said it was clear to Spencer that they were "church people," and they appealed to him on religious terms. They said that, ultimately, they don't think Spencer meant to harm them.

At one point, Frances asked Spencer if he wanted to something to eat, and she fixed him some cereal. He also drank a whole pitcher of iced tea.

At another point, Spencer sat next to Robert and put his gun down between them. Robert resisted the urge to make a move for it because he thought he was too old and too slow to do it. Before emptying his revolver on the double sink in the bathroom, Spencer reached into his pocket, took out a wad of cash and peeled off a $100 bill and two $20 bills and handed them to Robert as some sort of gesture for what he'd done, Robert said. The Belotes gave the money to police.

"I think he realized there was no way out of here," Robert said. "We told him it would be best for everyone if he surrendered."

The Belotes say that they are not permanently scarred by the incident but that they would like to move on with their lives. They want Spencer to pay for his crimes but harbor no ill will toward him.

"We're fine," Robert said, adding that perhaps he had been too trusting generally. "I guess I'll be a little more careful with locking my doors now."

Staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.

Tagged: crime, Leesburg, Leesburg Police Department, Loudoun Sheriff's Office, police

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