Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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June 16, 2009

One dead and one charged in Jolo homicide

By GREG JORDAN

JOLO — A Virginia man facing a charge of first-degree murder in the wake of an early morning homicide was awaiting extradition Tuesday back to West Virginia.

The McDowell County Sheriff’s Department was dispatched at 12:38 a.m. to Pea Patch Road on Stateline Ridge near Jolo, said Deputy J.E. Muncy.

One person, Michael Rife, 44, of Jewell Ridge, Va., had been killed in the incident. Details regarding the homicide were not being released due to the ongoing investigation, Muncy said.

A second Virginia resident, Joseph Horn, 34, of Jewell Ridge was later arrested by officers with the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Department. He faces charges of first-degree murder and fourth-degree arson, Muncy said.

“We were assisted by the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Department and the Virginia State Police,” Munch said.

The incident occurred inside West Virginia’s borders.

“Buchanan County was originally called out, but they found out it was inside West Virginia and we took it,” he said.

Deputy Ron Blevins of the McDowell County Sheriff’s Department is the case’s lead investigator. An autopsy by the State Medical Examiner’s Office in South Charleston was pending.

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com

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