WV MetroNews
The Voice of West Virginia
Today on MetroNews This Morning:
–Remains of mother and daughter missing for two decades are found the same day the man believed responsible dies in prison
–A longtime shopping staple in Charleston starts coming down this week
–Flooding will require a new surface for Wheeling Island Stadium
–In Sports: WVU boosters get to know Mountaineer coaches at the annual MAC Dinner in Charleston
Listen to “MetroNews This Morning 4-23-24” on Spreaker.
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BECKLEY, W.Va. — State police and the FBI have a news conference scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday to discuss key developments in a nearly 24-year-old cold case.
Authorities discovered Monday what they believe to be the remains of Susan Carter and her daughter Alex Carter on property on Kyle Lane in Beckley.
The property is where suspect Larry Webb used to live.
State police said Webb, who was an inmate at Mount Olive State Prison after being indicted last fall for 10-year-old Alex’s death, suffered a medical episode Monday morning in prison and died later at Montgomery General Hospital, about six hours before the bodies were found.
Webb, who was in his 80s, was indicted by a special grand jury last fall in connection with the disappearances. He was originally held at Southern Regional Jail but moved to Mount Olive because of his medical condition.
Raleigh County Prosecutor Ben Hatfield said following last September’s indictment that Susan Carter was in a heated custody battle with Alex’s father at the time of the disappearance. She was also in a relationship with Webb at the time.
Hatfield said the investigation picked up in the past two years with a joint team made of state police and FBI agents. He said bullet holes were found at Webb’s home.
“The bullet holes had been spackled over and wallpapered over and cleaned up and the blood that was behind the baseboard heater and behind the baseboard underneath the bullet holes belonged to Natasha (Alex) Carter,” Hatfield said last fall.
Excavation began at the Kyle Lane site last week.
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University and Fairmont State University talked about the Campus Carry law in separate meetings Monday.
During a meeting of the WVU Faculty Senate Executive Committee, WVU Dean of Students Corey Farris said the University Police Department is offering training and the administration is answering questions. For the next few weeks, they’ll continue to answer those questions and direct the campus community to available training sessions.
“Make sure people are aware of their training sessions,” Farris told professors. “They’ve already offered sessions in de-escalation and active shooter, so more to come on that and more advertisements.”
WVU Deputy General Counsel Kevin Cimino was asked about the accidental display of a firearm. Any display of a firearm should be reported to UPD, Cimino told the members, whether it is accidental or intentional, police want to be notified.
“Any time you see a rifle, call 911,” Cimino said. “But if it’s truly accidental, the University Police Department still wants to hear about it.”
In the course of making that notification, Cimino was warned not to unintentionally escalate the situation. Try to be as discrete as possible when a notification to police has to be made.
“That’s why having the LiveSafe app is important; you can do things discretely,” Cimino said. “Without specifically letting folks know you’re specifically calling someone.”
Fairmont State University preps
During a Monday meeting of the Fairmont State University By Laws Committee, Assistant General Counsel Cailey Murray told members that this policy was completely different from any other in the past.
“We usually don’t cite state code throughout our policy; we reference it at the end, but we thought it was important given the topic and the sensitive nature of it,” Murray said. “To show everybody that this language is not coming from us, this is what our obligations are through the code.”
Fairmont State President Mike Davis said they will work through the Student Government Association and submit guidelines for approval by the Board of Governors next month.
“We’re looking at working with the Student Government Association (SGA) to create an open forum so students can be informed and express any concerns they have,” Davis said. “Most of the concerns they have don’t have anything to do with the policy we’ve created; it has to do with the fact we had to create the policy in the first place.”
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Today is the final day West Virginians can register to be eligible to vote in the May 14 Primary Election. If the trend continues, the final numbers before the election will show that Republican registration will have grown, while Democratic registration will have declined or remained static.
Currently, 40.3 percent of all registered voters are Republican (474,160), 30.6 percent are Democrats (360,778), and 24.7 percent are no party/independent (290,719). The remaining five percent are Libertarian, Mountain, or another third party.
West Virginia has witnessed a steady shift from blue to red since the 2000 election. That year, George W. Bush became the first non-incumbent Republican to carry West Virginia since 1928, and Republican Shelley Moore Capito defeated Democrat Jim Humphreys in the 2nd District Congressional race.
Capito, who has now been elected and re-elected to the U.S. Senate, has played a major role in building the party, culminating in Republicans overtaking Democrats in registration in 2021 and ending nearly a century of Democratic dominance.
Capito’s office said at the time, “Capito has probably lost count of how many local Lincoln Day fund raising dinners she has attended over the years, how many phone calls she has made to prospective candidates, and how many times she has contributed to various campaigns.”
While Capito and others did the grunt work, Donald Trump has served as a top-of-the-ticket motivator. He carried the state by 40 points in each of the last two elections and GOP registration has grown by 19 percent, or 76,000 voters, over those eight years.
In 2016, only 14 of the state’s 55 counties had more Republicans registered than Democrats. By 2020, that number had risen to 26. And now, according to the latest voter registration numbers, 40 counties have Republican majorities.
Two of the most recent flips would have been unimaginable just a few years ago—Wyoming and Lincoln Counties. It’s razor close—just a five voter advantage in Wyoming and 28 more Republicans in Lincoln—but these two are deep in the heart of the historically loyal blue Democratic southern counties.
And more are trending toward a flip.
Republican registration is close to exceeding the Democrats in Brooke, Clay, Fayette, Summers, Webster and Wetzel Counties. Kanawha County is still blue, but not by much. There are 42,797 registered Democrats and 41,707 Republicans.
There are states where Republicans have a greater numeric advantage than in West Virginia. For example, in Wyoming, 80 percent of all voters are Republican and in Utah Republicans outnumber Democrats almost four to one.
However, it is hard to imagine any other state where the political winds have shifted as much and as rapidly as they have in West Virginia.
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Mountain State Justice has filed a lawsuit against the City of Morgantown on behalf of a homeless resident who has been arrested several times for panhandling.
The lawsuit accuses the city of “ramping up efforts to criminalize panhandling” that have resulted in the arrest of the plaintiff seven times since last June by the Morgantown Police Department.
Mountain State Justice attorneys said their client is the primary caretaker for his disabled partner. A news release said the couple s completely reliant on soliciting for their survival.
Monongalia County Commissioner Tom Bloom had not heard about the legal action when contacted but said he hopes this person can find the assistance they need.
“There is more than one city in our county that is enforcing the law (the Vehicle and Pedestrian Safety Ordinance) that is currently on the books,” Bloom said. “The individual who has been ticketed seven times is certainly eligible to receive assistance from the many resources we have in Monongalia County.”
The lawsuit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief and individual damages.
A request for comment from Mountain State Justice has not been answered.
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WEST UNION, W.Va. — When Doddridge County traveled to Tyler Consolidated exactly one week ago, the Bulldogs allowed seven runs in the second inning and fell behind 9-0 in what amounted to a five-run loss.
So with the Bulldogs welcoming the Class A No. 5 Knights for the rematch Monday, it was only fitting a far better start was their main priority.
That’s just what Doddridge County delivered, and its four-run first inning went a long way toward the Bulldogs evening the season series with a 5-2 home victory.
“When we went to their place last week, we had a bad first two innings and got down early,” Doddridge head coach Nate Wright said. “We played with them well after, but I told them we needed to get on them early and they took advantage of putting the ball in play and took advantage of some walks.”
After Jacob DeHaven prevented Tyler Consolidated (16-7) from scoring to start the matchup, the Bulldogs’ offense helped ensure DeHaven would pitch with a lead for the rest of his outing.
During the four-run first, Doddridge (8-7) got one-out walks from both Caleb Sutton and Colt Sutton to help ignite its offense. Luke Rokisky and Joshua DeHaven followed with run-scoring singles for a 2-0 advantage, and although DeHaven was later caught stealing second base, the Bulldogs weren’t through yet producing early offense. After Phoenix Bonnell was hit by a pitch, Wyatt Cochran and Lucas Combs followed with consecutive sharp singles, each of which brought a run home to leave TCHS facing a 4-0 deficit.
At that point, Knights’ starting pitcher Tyler Ferrell was removed in favor of Brennon Miller.
The game stayed 4-0 until the top of the third, when Tyler Consolidated capitalized on consecutive walks and produced its first run courtesy of a Zade Billings sacrifice fly to right that was deep enough to plate Jayce Miller.
Faced with a 4-1 deficit in the fourth, Tyler had a prime opportunity to draw closer after Jacob DeHaven issued a base-on-balls to both Owen Westbrook and Gabe Jackson to start the inning. But the right-hander dug in and struck out Ferrell and Brennon Miller before inducing a ground ball to shortstop off the bat of Nate Deaton for the final out.
“One thing I say to Jacob is to pitch and play with confidence,” Wright said, “and a lead like that gives you confidence. He took advantage of it and played and pitched well.”
The Bulldogs had an opportunity to blow the game open in the home half of that inning courtesy of two walks and an error, but Brennon Miller struck out Joshua DeHaven to end the threat and escape unscathed.
It looked as though that sequence would be even more pivotal when the Knights capitalized on a Doddridge error in the fifth to score a second run, that coming on Ethan Clark’s triple to left field, which brought home Reese Davis, who had reached on the error.
After issuing consecutive walks, his sixth and seventh of the outing, Jacob DeHaven was removed at pitcher in favor of Caleb Sutton.
The decision couldn’t have worked out better as Sutton struck out Ferrell to end the inning with his team’s two-run lead intact.
“Their two pitchers kept us off balance and in the games we’ve lost this year, there’s been situations where we leave guys on base,” Tyler Consolidated head coach Robby Jones said. “We get guys on and don’t come up with that clutch hit. The heart of our order has stepped up all season and we have to continue to get better down the lineup and come up with some clutch hits when things really matter.”
The Bulldogs got an insurance run in the sixth courtesy of Colt Sutton’s single to left, and Sutton closed things out in the seventh by working around a two-out single and striking out a pair to finish with four of his seven outs record by strikeout.
“It means a lot, because this is what I know this team is capable of playing like,” Wright said. “I preach to them all the time doing the little things right and if you make plays and throw strikes, we can beat good teams like this.”
Colt Sutton had two of Doddridge’s six hits, while DeHaven picked up the win by allowing two runs over 4 2/3 innings. He had six strikeouts.
“Jacob threw a great game early on and gave us a good chance to win,” Wright said. “Sutton came in and closed the door for us and that’s what he does. Sutton’s our ace, but it was all around good pitching to keep a good baseball team to two runs.”
Ferrell took the loss after allowing four runs on four hits in 2/3 of an inning. Brennon Miller had a solid outing relief and surrendered one run on two hits over 4 2/3 innings. He struck out seven and issued five walks.
“It was a good baseball game between two good teams,” Jones said. “You can’t take a day off in this conference.”
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia University’s Mountaineer Athletic Club is hoping to build off a positive year for WVU athletics with their annual scholarship dinners on their statewide tour.
Several WVU head coaches, student-athletes and alumni were in attendance for the annual Charleston Scholarship Dinner Monday evening at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center. In 2023, the Charleston Scholarship Dinner raised over $55,000 towards the MAC Charleston Scholarship Dinner Athletic Endowment.
WVU Athletic Director Wren Baker said being in the capital city is always an exciting time and this was no exception.
“This is such an awesome event and we have such passionate fans in Charleston,” Baker said.
Around 500 people filled up the convention center with blue and gold for the dinner. There were also speeches given as the night went on including one from former WVU men’s basketball coach John Beilein.
Over the course of the next few weeks, WVU officials and coaches will be making stops in Wheeling, Parkersburg, Martinsburg and Glade Springs. Baker said new this year will be stops in Washington, D.C. and Charlotte, North Carolina.
“We’ll see a lot of Mountaineer fans near and far,” Baker said. “It’s really a great time to be a Mountaineer.”
Baker spoke highly of some of the successful athletic teams from last year including the football team. Neal Brown was one of several coaches also in attendance. Baker said he’s expecting a great turnout for the WVU Gold and Blue Spring Football Game coming up Saturday, April 27.
“I think the spring game attendance is going to be way up this year so we’re excited about getting everybody up to Morgantown,” he said.
Coach Brown is excited about the upcoming season too and was happy to see such a big turnout for the Charleston Scholarship Dinner.
“It’s a community full of Mountaineers, there’s no question about it” Brown said about the city of Charleston. “Anytime we can come down here and spread the gospel about what we’re doing within the football program, we try to take advantage of it.”
There’s a lot of good energy surrounding the team, according to Brown. WVU will have seven home games this season at Milan Pushkar Stadium. The season opener is August 31 against Penn State, who the Mountaineers opened the season with in 2023.
Brown described the mentality of WVU fans heading into the season as being “all in.”
“It matters and you want to coach and play at a place where it matters and it matters to the people of West Virginia,” said Brown.
Neal Brown has been head coach of the football team since 2019. He’s going to be spending a lot more time over the next couple of weeks with new men’s basketball coach Darien DeVries, who was in Charleston for the first time Monday.
DeVries has already been busy trying to put together a staff and a roster of players ever since being hired on in March. He previously spent six seasons as the head coach of Drake University. Since then, it’s been a nonstop effort to create a team, but Monday was a quick break from all of that for DeVries and a chance to put more names with faces.
“I haven’t had a lot of time to get out and about so this was great to meet a lot of people,” DeVries said.
“The people here are so supportive and I’m excited about engraving myself more into the community,” he added.
Much like Brown, WVU women’s basketball coach Mark Kellogg is trying to build on the momentum that his team picked up last season.
“I feel like we’re in a much better spot now than we were a year ago and I’m just really excited about what’s to come,” Kellogg said.
In his first year in Morgantown, Kellogg’s club went 25-8 and booked a trip to the Women’s NCAA Tournament. The team isn’t losing much to the transfer portal and a lot of their core players are returning. This past season, the team also had one of the best attendance marks they’ve ever had.
“There is momentum in the program and we just have to capitalize on it and take it to a whole new level,” said Kellogg.
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A 12-member Kanawha County jury has found a man guilty of first-degree murder in a Charleston murder case.
The jury got the Tyran Gray case Monday afternoon after the defense rested its case. The jury, which convicted Gray on 4 total charges, recommended mercy on the murder conviction.
Gray, 27, of Detroit, who shot and killed Norman Sweeney, 49, on Charleston’s West Side on September 9, 2022, chose not to take the stand Monday.
The defense claimed it was someone else that shot Sweeney, not Gray. Authorities said Gray was mad at Sweeney about a stolen package.
Gray was originally charged along with Cortini Ann Stovall, who authorities said was driving a white car that sped away from the shooting scene. Stovall had pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of accessory after the fact of first degree murder.
Stovall told the court she took Gray to another home following the shooting and was then paid $600 to take Gray to Detroit.
Charleston Police Detective Joshua Mena testified for the prosecution Monday. He showed a map of the locations involved in the crime scene, which included 532 Wyoming Street, 530 Wyoming Street, and 309 Glenwood Avenue.
“Does this map show the trajectory of the cameras you were able to find to trace the white car?” Kanawha County Assistant Prosecutor Monika Jaensson asked Mena.
“Yes ma’am,” Mena replied.
“And, so you were able to find through street cameras the path the white car took from Wyoming Street to Glenwood, correct?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” Mena again replied.
Stovall apparently had rented the white car from Enterprise
Mena said the in and out mileage on the car was consistent to driving from Charleston to Detroit and back.
Gray was convicted on charges of first degree murder with mercy, the use of a firearm in the crime, wanton endangerment with a firearm and being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. The jury found him not guilty on a cocaine charge.
Gray will be sentenced later this year.
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The closings of two longstanding and established restaurants in the city of Charleston has more people looking for work.
It was announced Sunday that The Chop House and Tidewater Grill abruptly closed. Both restaurants are owned by Mainstreet Ventures Restaurant Group and both had spots in the Charleston Town Center Mall for many years.
Kevin Gudejko, President of Mainstreet Ventures Restaurant Group, said the two locations were simply losing too much money over the past few years. Mike Gibbons founded Mainstreet Ventures, but sold it a few years ago.
Some employees said they were notified on Saturday that their place of work was not going to be open the following day and would close for good.
Chef Paul Smith, owner of The Pitch and 1010 Bridge in Kanawha County, said he feels for both the ownership group and the employees. He said there’s no easy way to close a business.
“I see both sides of it,” Smith said Monday. “When you tell your team that you’re closing, sometimes things go out the back door, sometimes people don’t show up to work so maybe a month turns into closing next week because all of our staff is gone or all of our product is gone.”
Smith called the news of the two closures a “gut punch.”
“I also feel terrible for the employees,” he added.
Charleston Town Center Mall has seen a lot of restaurants leave the building or close in recent years. Panera is gone along with Five Guys and Qdoba to name a few. Smith said the mall is a tough place to be at the moment.
“Tidewater had been there for many years and Chop House was at one time one of the premier restaurants in town,” said Smith.
A handful of other Charleston businesses have already posted to social media about hiring or reached out to laid off employees to let them know that they have openings. Employees have also been offered by Mainstreet Ventures Restaurant Group to relocate to another location in Ohio or Michigan.
Smith is trying to lend a hand to former employees too. He encourages folks to apply for a position at 1010 or The Pitch. He still believes the capital city is a great place to be in the restaurant industry.
“If you’re an employee, put in an application,” he said. “We’ll find something for you.”
Traffic at the mall has not been what it used to be and that most likely played a part in the decision from the corporation to close the two restaurants. Smith said the expense for companies to occupy a space at the mall is also too great to overcome.
“I don’t know what they’re paying but I’m sure it’s outrageously expensive,” said Smith. “I would probably rather be in Southridge, but I want downtown and the mall to be more successful. Malls are just dying in general.”
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Story by David Beard, The Dominion Post
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Federal officials came to the Richard Mine acid mine drainage treatment plant on Monday to announce the second round of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding for abandoned mine land reclamation in West Virginia.
Last year, the state received $140 million, said Steve Feldgus, principal deputy assistant secretary for th Department of Interior’s Land and Minerals Management. He announced this year’s round of $140.7 million.
“The reality is that legacy pollution continues to pollute too many of our waterways, neighborhoods, community spaces, and we can’t look away any longer,” he said.
The IIJA provides for $11.3 billion for abandoned mine land restoration across 15 years, enough to enable reclamation of nearly all current and inventoried AML sites in the country.
The Richard Mine plant, he said, is an example of what the IIJA – also called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill – can do – cleaning up Deckers Creek and enabling the recovery of critical minerals from the acid mine drainage water for use in cell phones, our national defense and the clean energy economy.
The AMD critical minerals extraction process, he said, was developed by WVU scientists and is helping the state to become a leader in producing the materials needed for the 21st century.
“These funds will support vitally needed jobs for coal communities by funding all types of reclamation projects,” he said.
A press release expands on that. It says AML reclamation supports jobs in coal communities by investing in projects that close dangerous mine shafts, reclaim unstable slopes, improve water quality, and restore water supplies damaged by mining. IIJA awards also enable economic revitalization by reclaiming hazardous land for recreational facilities and other redevelopment uses, such as advanced manufacturing and renewable energy deployment.
Local watershed advocates also joined in the announcement.
Brian Hurley, executive director of Friends of Deckers Creek, said, “It has taken Friends of Deckers Creek nearly 30 years to get a treatment system built on the Richard Mine. This ushers in a whole new generation of treatment systems never before possible.”
FODC has built and implemented more treatment systems in this watershed than any other agency, he said, and the impact of FODC and other watershed groups is profound; and the IIJA money is crucial to advance their missions.
“Words do not adequately express what this means for the creek and all the people living downstream,” he said.
Autumn Crowe, interim executive director of the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, said she started her career at FODC. “And now to be here today to celebrate this momentous occasion is a real honor.”
The effort to revive Deckers Creek began 30 years ago, with community members who had a hope and vision of bringing the creek back to life. “We are all here because they never gave up.”
But there are still thousands of miles of streams in this state impared for heavy metals and acidity, she said. “As we bring life back to Deckers Creek let us also strive to bring life back to to all of those other streams that are impacted by acid mine drainage across the state.”
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law AML funds supplement traditional annual AML grants, which are funded by active coal operations through DOI’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. Nationwide, this year’s allotment totals $539.6 million. Funding will be awarded to additional eligible states and Tribes on a rolling basis as they apply.
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