STAUNTON, Va. -- Expecting to testify in July, the witness got a message Saturday: "This is Cynthia," came a familiar voice on the answering machine. "Call me back and maybe you'll live."
That call, Staunton police said Monday, came from Cynthia Fix, a defendant in an upcoming attempted extortion trial in Staunton. The message was one of two left Saturday for a 40-year-old woman scheduled to testify.
Authorities arrested Fix, 37, and Carol Burns, 40, on charges of misdemeanor witness intimidation and destruction of property. The women left threatening messages sometime after noon, then smashed the victim's bedroom window with a vase before midnight, police said.
After hearing the window break while in bed, the victim's boyfriend spotted Fix and Burns outside in the 2300 block of Davis Street and followed them to their apartment, police said. Both women were later arrested and are being held without bond at Middle River Regional Jail in Verona.
In addition to Fix's message, the victim received a call from Burns stating: "Don't talk about me behind my back - I'll take care of you," according to police. The victim said she could identify the callers' voices.
The victim is listed as a witness in a July attempted extortion trial for Fix and Burns, according to court records. Police arrested Fix and Burns in September after an investigation into threatening phone calls made to a 37-year-old woman in mid-July. The calls demanded the woman pay $14,000 to stop delivery of a letter to her husband that would "ruin her character," police said.
Attempted extortion carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Burns was charged with grand larceny in January for trying to steal cosmetics from the Avon store in the Staunton Mall, according to court records. She has also been convicted of DWI. Fix awaits hearings on charges of third or subsequent DWI and driving with a revoked license.
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