Police Narrow Leads in W.Va. Shootings (Investigating possible drug link)

Associated Press (posted at Guardian) ^ | Aug. 19, 2003 | Joedy McCreary

[mountaineer]

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Investigators have narrowed hundreds of tips to 10 solid leads in their probe of sniper shootings that killed three people outside Charleston-area convenience stores, authorities said Tuesday.

Investigators also are pursuing a possible drug link in at least two of the shootings, Kanawha County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Phil Morris said.

Interviews with Campbells Creek residents uncovered public concerns about the sale and use of methamphetamines in the unincorporated area where two of the victims lived and where one of the shootings occurred.

``We would be remiss in not mentioning the possible drug connection,'' Morris told reporters. ``A number of people we have talked with are trying to tie this to drugs.''

Morris would not say if the victims had drug ties or if one shooter was involved. He also said investigators had not determined whether the victims knew each other. The two Campbells Creek residents, Jeanie Patton, 31, and Okey Meadows Jr., 26, were slain Thursday night. The shootings occurred 90 minutes apart at convenience stores 10 miles from each other. Four days earlier, Gary Carrier Jr., 44, of South Charleston, was shot to death while talking on a pay phone outside a Charleston convenience store.

Campbells Creek is about 10 miles east of Charleston, and residents say drug use is on the rise.

``Pills and meth and the hard stuff has swept through here just over the last couple of years,'' said David Roy, of nearby Point Lick Hollow.

Before the shootings and interviews, the sheriff's department had received no complaints of people purchasing, selling and using drugs in Campbells Creek, Morris said.

Deputies returned to the community Tuesday to conduct additional door-to-door interviews.

``We're not saying there isn't a random (shooter),'' Morris said. ``We're not saying they (residents) can stop looking over their shoulder. We're simply saying there is a drug problem in Campbells Creek, and we're looking at it very seriously.''

All three shootings occurred at night from distances of 30 yards to 60 yards. Each victim was shot in the neck or head by a small caliber rifle.

Kanawha County Sheriff David Tucker said Tuesday his department was awaiting ballistics test results. The sheriff's department has not released the bullet caliber. Tucker said investigators continue to make progress.

``We are dealing with a lot of information. We've got a little over 100 leads,'' Tucker said. ``We have come out with 10 good leads we feel we have to follow up on.''

In addition to talking to Campbells Creek residents, Tucker said investigators are following other leads in the county and ``a little further out.'' He declined to provide specifics.

Police were looking for a dark Ford F-150 extended cab pickup. Authorities originally said the driver was a large white male, but have since said eyewitness descriptions may have been obscured because of darkness.

Meanwhile, two Kanawha County Wal-Mart stores have pulled hunt-and-shoot style video games from their shelves.

``We have not made a corporate decision to remove these games from our store shelves,'' company spokeswoman Melissa Berryhill said Tuesday from Bentonville, Ark. ``Individual store managers can make a decision based on what they feel is right for the community.''

One store is in Carrier's hometown of South Charleston. The other is in the nearby city of Nitro.

[mountaineer]

Heard about this new drug angle on tonight's 6 p.m. news.

[blam]

Thanks for the post.

[dmeara]

Ok, large white angry male dealing drugs.. but are they sure he is not driving a white van?

[Beelzebubba]

Bang

[mountaineer]

ping

[gorush]

Remember the white van in the original sniper case? The first reports are usually wrong...we'll see.

[mountaineer]

Sounds like the identification of a large white man as the shooter is not quite so definite.

[StriperSniper]

Authorities originally said the driver was a large white male, but have since said eyewitness descriptions may have been obscured because of darkness.

More institutional racism, a clear case of racial profiling.....NO JUSTICE! NO PEACE!

[11B3]

And here I thought that this case was an attempt to get the AWB passed again. Now it looks as though the police are resorting to their time honored tradition of blaming it all on drugs when they can't find the real reason behind the crimes.

Ineptitude strikes again.

[GOP_Proud]

I live 15 miles from 2 of the shootings.

You honestly do not know how funny it is to hear police say they are looking for an overweight white guy driving a dark, double cab truck.

Uhh...that would cover about 50% of the population here.

[StriperSniper]

Yeah, if the guy was out to silence people who could have fingered him as a dealer, or to get even with deadbeat buyers, what are the chances that he would be able to find all three of them out and shoot them in three different places all in one night? Lame.

[StriperSniper]

I'm in Jersey and assumed the same!

(Sorry for profiling ;-)

[Nouge]

Meanwhile, two Kanawha County Wal-Mart stores have pulled hunt-and-shoot style video games from their shelves.

Good move... That will stop all future killings!! I mean, there were never shootings before video games... It's simple logic.

[flutters]

Thanks for the ping.

Interesting update. I've noticed a lot of drug bust in and around the Parkersburg area during the past year or two. It sounds like meth labs are running rampant in the hills.

I imagine if it is drug related, it would bring some relief to the community. Those that avoid such characters are relatively safe from the sniper.

[stlnative]

One was shot on a Sunday night and 2 were shot on a Thursday night about 1 hour apart. 3 Killings over a 4 day stretch

[StriperSniper]

Oops! Thanks for the correction. I haven't been paying close attention and thought they were all on that Thursday night.

[Glenn]

I've read that Oxycontin (sp) is all the rage in places like WV, NC, SC and VA. People I know whom I never would have guessed would get caught up in it have forged prescriptions to get it. I've taken it and I just don't get it. Guess you have to put it up your nose to get the "high". All I ever got was cramps.

[white trash redneck]

Now it looks as though the police are resorting to their time honored tradition of blaming it all on drugs when they can't find the real reason behind the crimes.

Amen to that. Chances are that the reputations of innocent victims are being dragged through the mud as being "linked to drugs." If the cops have clear evidence that the victims were in the drug trade, they should put it out there. If doing so would jeopardize the investigation, then the entire drug issue shouldn't be mentioned until after the crime has been solved.

Methinks the cops are putting this out there to calm the sheeple, since the thought of a random sniper is much more troubling than the thought of druggies killing one another.

[sonsofliberty2000]

Oxycontin is the rage is at least Gilbert, WV, a small rural area in Southern WV. My aunt and uncle run a ministry in Wheeling (northern WV for all you geo-illiterates :-p ) and are originally from there just like I was. It has caused all kinds of issues from people going bankrupt from wasting all their money on it to businesses closing due to the same reasons. Its some bad stuff.

Patriot Paradox

[sonsofliberty2000]

Thanks for the heads up!

Patriot Paradox

[Arkinsaw]

Good move... That will stop all future killings!! I mean, there were never shootings before video games... It's simple logic.

If someone drowns someone will they empty out all their aquariums?

[cricket]

"I live 15 miles from 2 of the shootings"

Stay safe/alert!

[mountaineer]

Same gun used in 2 deaths

Drug link being examined; solid leads emerge

By Tom Searls
STAFF WRITER

Investigators learned late Tuesday that the same weapon was used to kill two people shot outside Kanawha County convenience stores on Thursday night.

The news officially links the deaths of Jeanie Patton and Okey Meadows, two Campbells Creek residents gunned down about one hour and 10 miles apart Thursday night.

Kanawha County Chief Deputy Phil Morris said laboratory reports showed the bullets “have been determined to have been fired by the same weapon.”

Tests on the bullet that killed Gary Carrier Jr. outside a Charleston store a few days earlier are continuing, Morris said. Previously, police said the bullets in the three slayings had similar characteristics and were all the same caliber. They have refused to reveal the caliber of the weapon, assumed to be a rifle.

All three victims were shot in the head area at night with small-caliber bullets, police have said. All were slain outside convenience stores, and all three shootings occurred from distances of 30 to 60 yards.

Investigators have searched for any link among the three victims, trying to determine if they were targeted for some reason or were simply the random picks of a sniper. Morris said sheriff’s deputies have continued to interview Campbells Creek residents who believe at least the slayings of the two people from there — Patton and Meadows — are drug-related.

“I’m not saying they were into drugs,” Morris said. “They could’ve known something or had a relative or friend into it.

“Sometimes you’re killed for what you know.”

“I really don’t know at this point,” Charleston Police Chief Jerry Pauley said of a possible drug link. “Some of the evidence points that direction and some doesn’t.”

The series of murders, which some have labeled “sniper shootings,” began Aug. 10 when Carrier, 44, of South Charleston was shot in the head about 11 p.m. while using a pay phone outside a Go-Mart on Bigley Avenue in Charleston.

Four days later, Patton, 31, was shot in the head while pumping gas outside a Campbells Creek Drive store about 10:20 p.m. Meadows, 26, was shot in the neck outside a Cedar Grove Go-Mart at about 11:30 that night.

Fearing a shooter killing people at random, law enforcement officials warned area residents to take precautions when going to stores at night.

A task force headed by FBI agents who worked on last year’s sniper shootings in the Washington, D.C., area was operating within 24 hours of Meadows’ death.

“I was impressed with how fast it came together,” Pauley said.

The expertise of those who worked the Washington-area case is invaluable, he said. “That’s knowledge you can’t get out of a textbook,” he said.

Morris said the task force is split into two- or three-person investigatory groups, with eight teams working two eight-hour shifts, and four groups working the after-midnight shift.

“Normally we’ve got a local guy [on a team] with people who aren’t from the area,” said Pauley, who said the local detectives can guide the out-of-towners.

Kanawha County Sheriff Dave Tucker said the task force had 100 leads on Monday. After 150 interviews Monday, Morris said deputies found 10 solid leads. They conducted more than 100 interviews Tuesday, though those have yet to be analyzed.

Pauley is pleased by the quick pace of the task force in following up the leads. “There’s no way we could cover this much with the manpower we’ve got,” he said.

Morris has flooded Campbells Creek with deputies, concentrating on Meadows and Patton. “I think if we can solve these two, we’ll automatically get the other one,” he said.

Deputies have found that many Campbells Creek residents believe the two deaths are drug-related.

“The drug of choice is methamphetamine, and that’s what we’re hearing door-to-door on Campbells Creek,” Morris said.

He plans to have deputies back in the area today. “People are giving us all kinds of information,” he said.

If the slayings end up being drug-related, it would mean the three victims were targeted specifically. Morris believes that is a strong possibility.

He pointed out Tuesday that the killer, on the way to the Speedway where Patton was killed, passed up another convenience store on Campbells Creek Drive, more than a mile closer to the main road.

“It just doesn’t make any sense why that shooter went past the Exxon to the Speedway to make a random shot,” he said.

He also noted that witnesses saw a dark-colored pickup truck with an extended cab on the lot of the Cedar Grove Go-Mart for 20 minutes before Meadows was killed. Based on witness accounts, the chief deputy believes the shooter fired from that truck.

“There were opportunities to shoot other people, so why wait 20 minutes to shoot Okey Meadows?” Morris asked. “Using common sense would indicate that the person knew who they were shooting,” he said.

Still, investigators have no evidence linking either Meadows or Patton to drug activities.

Meadows, who was unemployed, was placed on six months’ probation for a November 2001 incident in which he pleaded guilty to the battery of his ex-wife and her mother. He was also once charged with domestic battery against his former wife, but that charge was dismissed.

His former wife, Jennifer Meadows Crookshanks, declined comment Tuesday and said she would consider a slander action against anyone who made comments about her life with Meadows.

Between Oct. 14, 2000, and May 6, 2001, 32 charges of being absent without leave from the military were filed against Meadows. All of those charges were later dismissed.

Patton was a substitute cook for the Kanawha County school board who lived with an unemployed boyfriend. “I don’t know of any record she has at all,” Morris said of Patton.

Carrier has never had any Kanawha County drug charges lodged against him, but South Charleston police have “dealt with him in the past,” Lt. G.E. Amburgy said.

He said most of those incidents were minor landlord-tenant complaints, but he was under investigation for another crime when he was killed, Amburgy said.

He would not reveal the nature of that crime. “I don’t think anything I have has a bearing on these cases,” he said.

Also Tuesday, The Associated Press reported that Wal-Mart stores at Southridge Centre and in Nitro have pulled hunt-and-shoot style video games from their shelves.

“We have not made a corporate decision to remove these games from our store shelves,” company spokeswoman Melissa Berryhill said Tuesday from Bentonville, Ark. “Individual store managers can make a decision based on what they feel is right for the community.”

http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2003081917

[cricket]

“It just doesn’t make any sense why that shooter went past the Exxon to the Speedway to make a random shot,” he said.

Random or targeted. . .statements like the above, to me, are fairly worthless; given what is not known.

Random begins 'somewhere'. . .and who knows, maybe the shooter was still on his cellphone . . .or sneezing. . .or finishing a twinkie as he drove by the Exxon. . .and just happend to be ready at the 'Speedway'. . .maybe there were more. . .or less people.

To say 'this does not make sense', just does not make sense.

[flutters]

What is the locals take on the shootings? Do you think it's drug related?

[flutters]

Thanks for the update. I'm glad they have outside help in trying to solve this.

[MontanaBeth]

So it could be the ATF in league with the DEA? Sounds plasible to me. It was an unmarked truck right?

[jmc813]

WOD Ping

[sweet_diane]

"Investigators have searched for any link among the three victims, trying to determine if they were targeted for some reason or were simply the random picks of a sniper. Morris said sheriff’s deputies have continued to interview Campbells Creek residents who believe at least the slayings of the two people from there — Patton and Meadows — are drug-related.

“I’m not saying they were into drugs,” Morris said. “They could’ve known something or had a relative or friend into it.'

for some reason i find this troubling... i know all kinds of people and they could take drugs or know someone who does.

[samanella]

I heard he had a beard, too....even more identifiable. Did they mention if he had teeth? A wad between his cheek and gum with a brown streak down the drivers window/door side of the truck? What kind of cap was he wearing? How many dogs in the back of the truck? How high up were the wheels lifted to run the mud bogs?

Sorry (I'm a WV native, too...we're allowed).

[mountaineer]

CHARLESTON, West Virginia (CNN) -- Investigators have determined that the three victims in seemingly random shootings in the Charleston, West Virginia, area were killed with the same weapon, authorities said Wednesday.

Through ballistics evidence, the latest tests tie Thursday's killing of Okey Meadows to the death earlier that night of Jeanie Patton, Kanawha County Chief Deputy Sheriff Phil Morris said. Earlier tests had linked Patton's killing to the August 10 shooting death of Gary Carrier, Morris said.

Tests revealed the bullets used to kill all three victims were fired from the same gun. Investigators have not determined what type of firearm was used, but they suspect it was a rifle, Morris said. rest of story.

[MrLeRoy]

Wod_list (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/involved?group=124) ping

[flutters]

Charleston, West Virginia, Police Chief Jerry Pauley holds a "wanted" poster Tuesday of a truck sought in connection with the shootings.

I wonder where/if we can get a copy of the 'wanted' poster?

[mountaineer]

AP reports:

.... But in recent days, investigators have been warned by residents of the area that the Patton and Meadows shootings could be related to increasing drug activity in the rural community of Campbells Creek, where the two victims lived. "A relative of one of the victims came and spoke to us and cocaine was mentioned," Morris said without elaborating. On Wednesday, police said they discovered 200 foot-tall (30 cm) marijuana plants growing in another nearby community called Cabin Creek. There were no immediate details or word of arrests. link to story

I wonder what all this means. Were some or all of these victims dealing/buying drugs? If so, does that necessarily imply a connection? Were the plants in Cabin Creek all 200' tall, or did the writer mean that there were 200 plants, each 12 inches in height? Curiouser and curiouser!

[flutters]

On Wednesday, police said they discovered 200 foot-tall (30 cm) marijuana plants growing in another nearby community called Cabin Creek.

Maybe they discovered 200 plants or 200 feet of marijuana combined, but they darn sure didn't find 200 foot tall plants (unless Miracle Gro and Viagra teamed up to come out with some super duper stuff).

I don't know if there is a connection. It is harvest time for the growers.

[cyberwatcher]

The wanted poster is available at the ATF website.

www.atftreas.gov

[cyberwatcher]

oops, it's www.atf.treas.gov

[flutters]

Thanks! That is the first time I've seen a gov't poster available in pdf or ms word....cool!

[At _War_With_Liberals]

"Methinks the cops are putting this out there to calm the sheeple, since the thought of a random sniper is much more troubling than the thought of druggies killing one another."


That is exactly whats happening.

These PD PR machines need to be reigned in, NOW.
The propaganda they spew brings their overall honesty into question. It is wise not to trust them.

[cyberwatcher]

your welcome