As 2011 comes to a close, police investigate open cases

PRINCETON — As the year 2011 comes to a close and the year 2012 begins, law enforcement agencies in both Virginias continue investigating unsolved crimes that happened in the past year or as far back as 30 years ago.

The West Virginia State Police started an initiative in 2011 to take another look at cold cases in each of the agency’s districts. Across the state and in Mercer, McDowell and Monroe counties, troopers started looking at unsolved murders and disappearances. Local police departments and county sheriff’s departments also continue to seek new leads in their cold case investigations. In Mercer County, police agencies are investigating a series of armed robberies.

One of the more recent cases that is still under investigation started March 30, 2009 when an employee of the Pizza Plus restaurant in Claypool Hill, Va., came to work that morning and discovered that two coworkers, 52-year-old Harvey Dean Looney and his wife Valerie Elaine Looney, 48, had been murdered. An undisclosed amount of cash had been stolen.

Sheriff Brian Hieatt of the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office said recently that the case is still a high priority. In a meeting of newly-promoted officers, the case was at the top of the sheriff office’s list of cases.

“What we determined in our meeting is that this is a very solvable case,” Hieatt said. “It is a top priority in our detective bureau.”

Meanwhile, Tazewell investigators continue to look at cold cases. One involves the Aug. 19, 2002 disappearance of James Harlin Boyd, 42, of Raven, Va. He was last seen in the Richlands, Va., area.

Boyd is a white male who is approximately 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs approximately 180 pounds. His eyes are light blue and he has light brown hair. Capt. Anne E. Hickman of the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office said Boyd has a civil record that contains only minor offenses such as traffic violations and bad checks for small amounts of money. Records did not show that he had an employer at that time, but he did general labor.

In one Mercer County murder case that started Sept. 19, 2007, an investigation led to a suspect and a conviction, but police believe another person or persons may have been involved.

Losey “Lee” Bennett was a retired West Virginia Parks employee who was doing some electrical work at Pinnacle Rock State Park near Bramwell. He was found dead at the park, the victim of a vicious assault.

Benny Ray Roberts Sr, then 53, of Brushfork was later arrested. He was indicted on murder charges in January 2008 and was found guilty in October that same year. However, investigators believe that Roberts did not act alone, so the search continues for other suspects.

Another search for a suspect continues in the case of 39-year-old Sandra Worrell of Bluefield. Worrell was found behind the counter of the Little General Store on Oakvale Road near Princeton the morning of Jan. 29, 1989. She had been shot and killed.

One Mercer County cold case involved a hit-and-run incident that took the life of a Princeton man. During the early morning hours of Aug. 1, 2004, Ryan Leeper, 26, was walking home from a local lounge when a vehicle struck him along Route 20 near Melrose Square. He did not die immediately. Another motorist driving in the fog was unable to stop in time and hit Leeper, too, but he stopped, flagged down cars and called Mercer County 911.

While many cold cases started in the recent past, one is more than 30 years old. It started May 1, 1982 when a relative visiting a young couple’s home near Wright’s Mountain in Mercer County found the bodies of Daniel Whitely, 24, and his wife Debra Sue Whitely, 20, in their bedroom. They had been shot with a small caliber weapon.

Another cold case going back decades is the murder of Mary Osborne, a cleaning lady at the First Church of God on South Street in Bluefield. Her body was found in the church when its pastor, the Rev. Neville Mozingo, arrived the morning of Dec. 28, 1972.

An additional case that remains under investigation is the death of Shawn Steptoe, 14, of Bluefield. Steptoe was reported missing on May 17, 2004. A resident of Union Street, he was last seen between 5 and 6 p.m. that day. Authorities received calls about sightings in Mercer and McDowell counties, but none of the tips led to his whereabouts. Then in early March 2005, East Street residents found an object that later turned out to be Steptoe’s skull. No other remains have been found and the cause of death has not been determined.

Across the county line in Welch, the state police are also working cold cases. A murder investigation started Jan. 16, 1990 on a picket line when the United Mine Workers of America were continuing a protest against a non-union mine. At approximately 8:30 a.m. that day, gunfire started. One man, a UMWA member named John McCoy, 42, of Welch, died after being shot in the neck and chest. Two other men were injured.

Years later on July 28, 2007, individuals who had just heard gunshots flagged down some troopers at Northfork Hollow. At a house near the Northfork Fire Department, the troopers found the body of Brindsley Charles Ward, 53, of the Republic of Trinidad. He had been killed by a single gunshot to the head.

The year 2011 ended with Mercer County’s law enforcement agencies investigating a string of armed robberies that started in October. Sixteen armed robberies had occurred by Nov. 29, and arrests have been made in eight of them.

The robbery cases that are still pending include the Long John Silvers on East Cumberland Road in Bluefield on Oct. 1; the MedExpress near Princeton on Oct. 17; the Kroger on East Cumberland Road in Bluefield and the Venus Lounge off Route 52 near Bluewell on Nov. 18; the Exxon Station on Ambrose Lane near Princeton on Nov. 20; and the 7-Eleven on Meadowfield Lane, Princeton on Nov. 29.

Whether the case is a cold one that happened decades ago or a recent crime that occurred only a few days ago, they all have one thing in common. The investigation continues.

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