2003 West Virginia sniper

The 2003 West Virginia sniper attacks were a series of sniper-style shootings that took place over the course of several days in August 2003, leaving three people dead in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The shootings were reminiscent of the Beltway sniper attacks that took place in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC in the fall of 2002.

The victims in the West Virginia sniper shootings were killed by a single bullet from long distances as they stopped at shops or gas stations. All three victims were killed late at night by the same kind of small-caliber rifle, although police have not determined if all three were murdered with the same weapon. Ballistic tests show that a .22-caliber rifle was used to kill the second and third victims. The first bullet could not be completely checked due to damage, but appeared to have similar characteristics to the other two bullets.

Police said that they were looking for a dark-colored full-size pickup truck. Eyewitnesses believed that the driver was a large white male, but couldn't identify the suspect further due to the darkness. A man was eventually arrested who matched this profile and who had implied to witnesses that he was the sniper, but no charges related to the shootings were ever brought against him.

The police considered the possibility that the shootings were drug-related. The second two victims had drug connections, but the police were not aware of any drug connections for the first victim.

About five months earlier, while exiting a local Kroger supermarket, Randy Burgess was shot twice in the chest sniper-style and died the next day. Although no hard evidence connected this murder with the three that would follow, law enforcement did not dismiss the possibility.

In October 2003, a joint task force investigating the shootings announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to the killer.

This reward would later be increased to $100,000.

In January 2007, a public access TV show host presented a theory that a gang called the Charleston Five carried out the shootings. Andy Palmer, who at the time was the host of “West Virginia’s Most Wanted,” claimed that two victims were chosen randomly to throw suspicion off the gang for killing its intended target, Jeanie Patton. According to Palmer, the leader of the gang sought to murder Patton because her boyfriend had stolen a car engine that belonged to him. The theory was not confirmed at the time though.

On March 31, 2011, local area resident Shawn Lester was arrested and charged with the murder of Jeannie Patton. He is being held without bail.

Large excavation equipment is currently being used to dig on a 53 acre plot of property owned by a woman that is believed to have provided shelter and comfort to not only Shawn Lester, but to other members of his criminal gang. Local law enforcement suspects that the pickup truck used in at least two of the murders may be buried on the property, and possibly the bodies of additional murder victims.

A key witness that had identified Lester as the shooter shortly after the murder was, essentially, ignored by the Kanawha County Sherrif's Department -- even though he had passed a polygraph test. When law enforcement failed to act on his information, he agreed to be a guest [anonymously] on a local Public-access television program named "West Virginia's Most Wanted", hosted by Andrew Palmer. Discredited at the time, the witness and Palmer have been vindicated.

At some time before the three successive murders, the witness's younger brother had stolen an automobile engine belonging to Lester that had a large quantity of methamphetamine hidden inside. Lester later confided in the witness that "he had taken something important to me, so I'll take something important to him. Keep an eye on the news".

Jeannie Patton was the longtime girlfriend of the witness's younger brother.

As Palmer pointed out in his show, the murder of Okie Meadows Jr, about an hour later and ten miles away, and the murder of Carrier were committed in order to make the murder of Patton appear random.

Lester was indicted for the three murders in August 2011.[1]

Victims

See also

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