Cops Find Body Of West Virginia Spree Killer After All-Out Manhunt

State police arrive at a residence on Sunset Beach Road in Cheat lake area where the second and third bodies were discovered, shot by the same shooter Jody Hunt of J&J Towing in Westover . The West Virginia man sus... State police arrive at a residence on Sunset Beach Road in Cheat lake area where the second and third bodies were discovered, shot by the same shooter Jody Hunt of J&J Towing in Westover . The West Virginia man suspected in four killings in separate shootings was discovered dead in his truck of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after an hours-long manhunt, police said Monday, Dec. 1, 2014. (AP Photo/The Dominion-Post, Ron Rittenhouse) MORE LESS
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Police say towing business owner Jody Lee Hunt fatally shot four people — one who owned a competing company and another who filed a domestic violence case against him — and then himself Monday, but officials have yet to piece together clues as to why he went on the spree.

During an hours-long manhunt Monday, police released few details. They warned residents to look out for his black 2011 Ford F-150, and that night his body was found in that truck in the woods.

Hunt, 39, was wanted in three separate shootings — two in the Westover area, outside Morgantown, and another in the Cheat Lake area in Monongalia County, state police said. His business — J&J Towing and Repair LLC of Westover, according to state documents — was in Morgantown, though there was little activity outside it Monday. The door was padlocked.

Medical officials will work to confirm the body’s identity, and on Tuesday, investigators at each of the threecrime scenes planned to “sit down and piece all those puzzle pieces together and find out how this all happened,” state police spokesman Lt. Michael Baylous said.

Police identified the victims as Sharon Kay Berkshire, 39, of Westover; Michael David Frum, 28, of Maidsville; Jody Taylor of Monongalia County and Doug Brady, owner of a towing company located less than a quarter mile from Hunt’s company.

Berkshire filed a domestic violence case against Hunt last month, according to Monongalia County Circuit Court records. Court records indicated there were no protective orders currently in place for Berkshire.

Frum’s aunt, Ellen Shafer, of the Cheat Lake area, said she knew few details about her nephew’s death. She said Frum worked on detailing cars in Westover and did some construction work and other odd jobs.

“We were just saddened, and we’re living with the realization of his death and coping the best we can,” Shafer said.

___

Associated Press writers John Raby in Charleston and Jonathan Mattise in Morgantown contributed to this report.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Notable Replies

  1. Darn those African Americans and their violence!

  2. Avatar for chammy chammy says:

    I hope these ignorant redneck, racist gun lovers just keep killing themselves. They won’t be missed.

  3. The really pressing question is: what is Bill Belichick doing in that garage?

  4. Avatar for jw1 jw1 says:

    Apparently stupidity does kill.

    jw1

  5. Avatar for jw1 jw1 says:

    Safe money? Spying.

    jw1

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