Posted on 05/12/2019 2:02:24 PM PDT by buckalfa
WYTHE COUNTY, Va. - One of the two victims in Saturday morning’s machete attack on the Appalachian Trail has died and law enforcement has now named the suspect under arrest.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice said Sunday that 30-year-old James Jordan was arrested in the early morning hours Saturday. He faces federal charges that include murder and assault with the intent to murder.
The spokesman said Sunday that one of the victims has died. 10 News previously reported that investigators said one of the victims, a female, was expected to survive the attack, while the condition of the other, a male, was unknown.
The investigation is ongoing, the spokesman said.
Jordan is scheduled to have an initial appearance in federal court in Abingdon, Virginia, Monday morning.
“I commend local law enforcement in Wythe and Smyth Counties for mobilizing successful rescue and tactical operations in this remote region,” U.S. Attorney Cullen said in a statement. “Thanks to their efforts, the suspect was safely apprehended and a seriously wounded victim received critical medical care.”
Jordan is from West Yarmouth, Massachusetts.
As 10 News has previously reported, investigators said Saturday that the suspect attacked a man and a woman with a machete while they two were hiking together on the Appalachian Trail near Crawfish Road.
Wythe County Sheriff Keith Dunagan told 10 News investigators are still searching the trail, worried that there may be more victims.
Jordan faced charges after a separate altercation on the Appalachian Trail in April, during which he threatened hikers in North Carolina and Tennessee. He is also known by his trail name “Sovereign.”
Original story: Two people were assaulted on the Appalachian Trail early Saturday morning, according to Wythe County Sheriff Keith Dunagan, who told 10 News one person is in custody. That suspect is now facing federal charges.
Investigators say the suspect attacked a man and a woman with a machete, while they were hiking together on the trail near Crawfish Road. Dunagan said the female victim will survive the attack. Law enforcement could not comment on the condition of the male victim.
Between 3:30 and 4 a.m. Saturday, Wythe County deputies were alerted about a man threatening Appalachian Trail hikers. Two hikers reported to the Bland County Sheriff's Office that there was a man with a machete assaulting people on the trail in Wythe County.
The male victim was found in Wythe County using GPS technology, after he sent out an emergency notification on his cellphone.
"They pinged it on the Wythe County side of the trail. So, the phone company notified us and that's when we went up there and found the suspect and the victim," Dunagan said. "We had our whole [tactical] team out there, so he wisely just surrendered himself."
Deputies found a machete on the trail that they believe the supsect was using.
Dunagan said the female victim was found in Smyth County after walking six miles -- injured and bleeding-- before finding a couple of hikers and calling for help.
The suspect was taken to a jail in Wythe County. Saturday evening, he was then transported by federal authorities to a jail cell in Washington County.
The sheriff's office would not release the suspect's name. However, the sheriff tells NBC affiliate WCYB in Bristol, Va. that this attack is connected to another altercation on the Appalachian Trail in April.
In that incident, James Jordan, 30, was charged with criminal impersonation and drug possession after police say he threatened other hikers on the trail in North Carolina and Tennessee.
Jordan, also known by his trail name 'Sovereign,' was released from jail, put on probation and ordered to pay fines.
Dunagan described the incident as "isolated." However, investigators worry there may be more victims and are searching the trail.
Virginia State Police confirmed to 10 News that troopers have assisted in the investigation. The U.S. Forest Service and FBI are also assisting.
U.S. Forest Service officials said about 18 miles of the Appalachian Trail is expected to remain closed on the Smyth and Bland County ends coming into Wythe until 6 a.m. Sunday.
The closure is about from the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area office to the Eastern Divide Ranger District boundary.
The section of the Appalachian Trail that runs through Wythe County is about a mile long and is located in the west region of the county.
I eat spaghetti in a white shirt and first bite some sauce will splatter right in the middle of it.
>>People felt they should be in regular society.
Kate Millett, the founder of NOW was committed by her family after she’d become famous. Her sister said she was babbling incoherently at one of her appearances.
Kate insisted that crazy doesn’t exist, it’s just society uncomfortable with other ways of thinking.
Another radical dyke feminazi in Europe also campaigned against psychotherapy and encouraged chaos in the streets.
The inmates truly do rule the asylums/institutions these days.
You really think marijuana is a worse drug than alcohol? How many murders do think involve alcohol? Just look at the shootings and stabbings that happen outside bars across the country. The people who say there’s no negative side effects to marijuana are irresponsible, but it’s just as ridiculous to pretend that marijuana causes more violent behavior in people than alcohol does. That doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of people who can drink responsibly without any problems.
Unicoi County had him and let him go...local businesses want that hiker money...elderly residents very nervous, but well armed.
Apparently this murderer had been reported to authorities as a threat before this activity happened and well they didn’t take proper action.
Shelter in place maybe.
Set up a perimeter.
Just like in Florida.
Now they wonder if there were other victims of his attacks that they don’t know about.
How many people who smoke marijuana also drink alcohol?
Drugs are ruining this country, as in hard drugs and recreational gateway drugs.
So is the practice of prescribing psychiatric drugs to seriously mentally ill persons and turning them back out into the community, expecting them to take their meds on schedule. Psych drugs have notoriously bad rates of “compliance” with doctor’s orders, because as soon as the mentally ill persons feel better, they are tempted to stop taking the drugs that are making them feel better and function more (approximately) normal.
Most of the shootings in Chicago are gang related and they are dope pusher turf wars.
Unlike pot, you can have a beer or a glass of wine without having any change in behavior and/or mental state.
Investigation Discovery has featured a story about murders on the Appalacian Trail (and also hints of possible hauntings). IIRC, it was the same man who committed two murders of campers / hikers in the same place with several years between. Creepy, I think.
Yes we do. Mainstreaming is criminal.
Pot is harmless don’t you know? Just ask any stoner.
Absolutely… Unfortunately, They find every way under the sun to keep you from packing the necessaries to do so....
Looks pretty beat up for a 30 yr old
The pot probably makes this whacko more sane.
Sounds more like a meth-head or cracker.
I don’t smoke weed. I tried it a few times when I was younger and I didn’t like the feeling. I don’t think weed it’s even remotely dangerous as the government use to tell us it was, but now there are too many people who defend it like it has all these benefits without any side effects. I think that’s just as dishonest, but I’ve seen more people kill themselves with alcohol than weed. That doesn’t mean the people who drink a glass or two of wine with a meal shouldn’t be able to do so.
Today’s pot is 10x as powerful as that of 50 yrs ago hence many cannot handle it. It has always been prone to wiping people out and putting them to sleep. That caricature is correct. There are also new and more efficient ways of using it and concentrates, some of which are over 90% THC.
Even with the increased strength pot is a minor problem compared to the Ox-Cotin epidemic. I just saw a documentary about the plague sweeping Baltimore (in this case.) One look at these addicts shows how innocuous weed is.
Look at the shirt this guy is wearing... seems to be an “authentic” reproduction shirt style dating from the 1700’s. These are sold for re-enactors in historic parks (usually hired for the season to “play a part”, such as in colonial reproduction villages, all over the Eastern US- PA, VA, WV, NH VT and yes...Massachusetts).
Drugged physical affect (state of facial rictus). With a name of “Sovereign” and “issues”— one wonders the level of his paranoid schizophrenia brought on by heavy duty marijuana smoking in combo with other drugs providing ideation of personal power and fugue state irrationality.
Federal murder- on Federal lands— he could be executed. Probably should be if proven— the last bit of solitude available in the country for backpacking long distance—and a loon kills someone.
The channel 10 adjunct article on where you can carry says it is based on the States-— NO— the State laws within concurrent federal lands do NOT supersede legal carry. If, however someone walks off the property line into say, Maryland there is then jurisdiction. Happens a lot with people touristing in VA and then cross into MD with unrecognized carry permit. One more reason for National Right to Carry. Period.
Alcohol causes more violence than marijuana. There’s statistical data to support that. Marijuana has side effects like anything else, but it doesn’t directly kill as many people as alcohol does. That doesn’t mean people can’t drink alcohol responsibly, or that you can’t acknowledge that fact and still be against the legalization of marijuana. I get annoyed by the dishonesty on both sides of this issue. Marijuana is still a drug with risk. It’s irresponsible for people who support it’s legalization to push it as having all these great positive effects with no risk, but just because the government suddenly decided to tell us it was illegal doesn’t make it something it’s not either.
shirt style appears to be retro Colonial era- 1700’s inner shirt— the era of 1600 1700’s type shirt- note the ribbed/rolled long collar and shirt front ties— not buttons.
We’re already taxed for that stuff, it’s a matter of priorities. Most county seats, at the time the land was platted, set aside land specifically for county shelters or mental health facilities. Nut cases are nothing new, it’s only relatively recently that anyone thought it was a good idea to turn them loose in the streets or mainstream them in the schools or let them hold public office.
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