Sex Offender Commits Suicide at Time of Arrest

1-9-2013 West Virginia:

WAYNE COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A convicted sex offender took his life Tuesday when State Police went to his home to arrest him.

West Virginia State Police tell WSAZ.com that during a recent compliance check, Charles Endicott, 73, of Fort Gay, had a gun that he was not permitted to have in his possession.

Tuesday, a trooper went to his home to execute an arrest warrant and when the trooper identified himself, State Police say Endicott committed suicide.

Endicott was convicted of being a sex offender in 1993 in Scott County, Kentucky. He was found guilty of third-degree sexual assault of a female who was 10-years-old. He spent 10 years in prison for his crime. ..Source.. by WSAZ.com

Man charged with child porn kills himself in cell, jails official says

8-14-2012 West Virginia:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A West Virginia corrections official has confirmed a report of a suicide at the South Central Regional Jail in Charleston.

Paul O'Dell, deputy director of the state's Regional Jail Authority, said Joseph Daniel Albohn, 54, of Kanawha County, was found dead in his cell at about 2 a.m. Tuesday. O'Dell said Albohn apparently hanged himself with a bed sheet.

Albohn was sent to the jail on Aug. 1 on child pornography charges, O'Dell said. He said Albohn had been on a suicide watch, but that a psychologist had determined it was safe to take him off the watch on Aug. 10.

"When they're on suicide watch, they have nothing [they could use to harm themselves]," O'Dell said. Albohn would not have had access to bed sheets while on suicide watch.

O'Dell said Albohn was not back in the general prison population at the time of his death.

The West Virginia State Police is investigating.

According to a criminal complaint on file in Kanawha County Circuit Court, a family member turned Albohn in after finding a laptop computer with images of children engaged in sexual activity hidden under a nightstand in Albohn's bedroom. According to the complaint, the family member called Albohn while police were present and confronted him about the computer.

Albohn told the relative he had stopped looking at the images several months before and had hidden the laptop, according to the criminal complaint. He also reportedly had said he thought about destroying the laptop.

Albohn told the relative the Jerry Sandusky child-rape trial influenced his decision to stop looking at the images. In June, Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts of sexually assaulting 10 boys over a 15-year period while serving as an assistant football coach at Penn State University.

In February, Albohn filed for bankruptcy, court records show. He listed his assets as $122,900 and liabilities as $107,435. ..Source.. by Rusty Marks

Suspect in Mich Sisters' Deaths Dies in West Virginia

7-18-2012 West Virginia:

An Iraq war veteran suspected of killing his ex-girlfriend and her pregnant sister in Michigan fatally shot himself in a remote West Virginia cabin after seeing investigators closing in, authorities said Wednesday.

Deputy marshals and Tyler County sheriff's deputies were approaching the cabin in night in Sistersville, W.Va., Tuesday evening when they saw Thomas Fritz run inside holding a rifle, said Alex Neville, a deputy marshal in Clarksburg, W.Va. Seconds later, they heard a gunshot.

Not knowing whether the 38-year-old Fritz had shot himself or fired on them, special units from Wetzel County and the State Police who were better equipped to deal with the potential standoff were sent in to help, Neville said.

"It would not have been prudent for the deputy marshals or local law enforcement to engage him in that cabin, with several hundred yards of open field around the cabin," Neville said. "To approach it would not have been a good tactical approach on our part."

Several hours after the gunshot rang out, officers fired tear gas into the cabin and stormed it, finding Fritz dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a rear bedroom, Neville said. There were two assault rifles and a shotgun in the home.

Authorities warned after the Friday killings that they considered Fritz armed and dangerous. Fritz served in the Ohio National Guard beginning in 1997 and later the Army Reserve. He then spent nearly a year in Iraq with the guard's military police unit from the spring of 2003 through early 2004.

Fritz had once worked for the man who owns the cabin, which is in a remote area near the Ohio border about 80 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, Pa., and he had been there many times, Neville said.

"He was familiar with the area. He returned there obviously to hide," he said.

Authorities contacted the cabin's owner, whose name they didn't release, Tuesday night to get its layout. The owner was not at the cabin at the time, Neville said.

Authorities said Fritz's ex-girlfriend, Amy Merrill, broke up with him about three weeks ago. On the night of the killings, he went to her Blissfield, Mich., home, where he had lived with her since last winter, to speak with her. The two had a child together, who is a toddler, and Merrill's two sons from a former marriage also lived there.

Police say Fritz shot Merrill, 33, her 24-year-old sister, Lisa Gritzmaker, who was eight months' pregnant, and their mother, Robin Lynn McCowan, who were all at the home. The sisters died and McCowan is recovering from surgery at a hospital.

The sisters grew up in the Blissfield area and were well known. Merrill took her two oldest boys to youth baseball games and Boy Scouts meetings. She and her sister were extremely close, friends said.

Before moving in with Merrill, Fritz was living in Sylvania, Ohio, a Toledo suburb where he grew up, which is about 12 miles from Blissfield.

In 2004, the year he completed his stint in Iraq, Fritz received an associate of applied science degree in criminal justice from Owens Community College in suburban Toledo.

In 2006, Fritz was convicted of sexual battery, deemed a sex offender and sentenced to a year in prison in Ohio. Paul Dobson, a Wood County, Ohio, prosecutor, said a woman accused Fritz of having sex with her at a party while she was passed out. ..Source.. by MIKE HOUSEHOLDER

Sex Assault Defendant Commits Suicide

9-12-2011 West Virginia:

WHEELING - Thomas Gray, charged with 36 counts of sexual assault and abuse, committed suicide today following the first day of his trial Wednesday.

Few details were made available at press time today, but Wheeling Police Deputy Chief Martin Kimball said officers responded to Gray's Mozart residence early today to find him dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Wednesday, Gray, 52, appeared before an Ohio County jury on one count of first-degree sexual assault, 16 counts of first-degree sexual abuse and 17 counts of sexual abuse by a custodian. Those charges stem from incidents that allegedly occurred at two separate residences in which Gray lived between 2001 and 2007, involving a female between the ages of 6-12 years old.

In an interview with a child advocate, which was played in court, the now 15-year-old girl said Gray touched her breasts, buttocks and genitals multiple times. She further alleged Gray exposed himself and forced her to touch his genitals.

She recalled the two were alone at Gray's residence when the alleged incidents occurred, and he frequently drove her to school the mornings following the sexual misconduct.

Officials eventually learned of the allegations after turbulent behavior at school and home prompted the girl's family to seek counseling from a therapist, to whom she revealed the allegations.

The May term of the Ohio County grand jury indicted Gray on two counts of third-degree sexual abuse, in addition to the charges listed above. Those counts stem from incidents that allegedly occurred between 1986 and 1988.

One of the alleged victims from the most senior incident was expected to testify today.

Gray's attorney, Don Tennant, said he is extremely saddened for his client's family. He thought, he pointed out, the testimony was presented as favorably as possible for Gray, and wished the jury was given the opportunity to deliberate. Tennant believes the likelihood Gray would have spent the rest of his life in prison if he was found guilty caused a great deal of stress, prompting his fatal decision.

If convicted, Gray would have faced more than 500 years in prison. ..Source.. by TYLER REYNARD Staff Writer

Mesquite pastor accused of West Virginia sex assault commits suicide

5-22-2011 West Virginia:

As a Sunday school class of children sang “Jesus Loves Me” down the hall, the congregation of Mesquite’s Open Door Baptist Church huddled in the sanctuary and learned their senior pastor had hanged himself in a West Virginia jail cell.

The swift fall of Matthew D. Jarrell — “Brother Jarrell” — left the church in shock and mourning. A beloved pastor for seven years, the 41-year-old father of four was arrested on a sexual assault charge Thursday and pronounced dead just after 12:30 a.m. Sunday.

“All of us at our best are sinners,” proclaimed youth minister Danny Reynolds, banging the pulpit several times during his morning sermon. Later he said, “It’s not time to throw in the towel.”

But in the pews, many wept. And later that morning, the church’s interim leader appealed to the heavens to help his church through its suffering.

“We all need a little touch of God this morning,” associate pastor Rik Parcell told his flock.

Some church members said they believed Jarrell, who lived on a ranch in Terrell, was in Pennsylvania last week for a Baptist convention. Instead he was near Charleston, W.Va., on Thursday morning when a sheriff’s deputy pulled him over to ask about a brutal attack.

A 36-year-old woman had phoned police and told them she’d just escaped from a man who offered her a ride home from a bar, then drove her to a secluded area and sexually assaulted her.

Jarrell first denied but then later confessed to having sex with the woman, according to a criminal complaint. The Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department said the pastor had another sexual assault charge pending from a 2007 incident in San Antonio.

Some members of Open Door, a church with several hundred members and a fixture on South Belt Line Road since the mid-’60s, said they never knew about the 2007 charge. Parcell said he knew but that Jarrell had given him a reasonable-sounding explanation, so he didn’t do further research.

He said Jarrell was known to church members as a problem-solver. “He’s helped nearly everyone in this church,” Parcell said.

The new allegations and the suicide left the interim leader “dumbfounded,” along with his congregation.

The church is going to keep moving forward, according to Parcell, and will search for a new pastor and support Jarrell’s wife.

One sermon on Sunday was themed “what to do after your heart is broken,” and while no sermon directly addressed the pastor’s death or alleged crimes, they were surely on the minds of every worshipper.

“We want to honor Brother Jarrell and his family,” said Joe Scott. “We’re in grief mode right now.”

Beside him, his wife, Tina, a member since 1977, was teary-eyed. “We’re still going to go on as a church and heal and grow,” she said.

And Vernon Allred, a member since 1996, called Jarrell’s suicide “heartbreaking.”

“But we loved him as a man,” Allred said, “and we’re going to go on as a church.”

“We didn’t worship him; we worship Jesus Christ.” ..Source.. by FRANK L. CHRISTLIEB and JANA J. MARTIN

WV- Man killed himself before arraignment

6-29-2006 West Virginia:

The man who shot and killed himself in a downtown Charleston office building had confessed to police that he had sexual relations with a 13-year-old girl in 2005. Kenneth M. Davis II, 31, killed himself in the lobby of a legal aid services building on 922 Quarrier Street at 9:45 a.m. Wednesday, less than an hour before he was to be arraigned on a 10-count indictment for sexual abuse of a minor by a guardian and third-degree sexual assault charges. According to court documents, Davis told police of several encounters with the victim from February to April 2005 at his South Charleston home and outside the girl's apartment. The victim's mother called police April 4, 2005, when she became suspicious of the relationship and Davis was arrested the following day, court records show.

Davis told detectives in a taped confession he met the girl's parents through work and had a three-year sexual relationship that ended in early 2003. Davis babysat the girl and her 8-year-old brother on several occasions and told them he knew magic, according to the victim's statements to police. Friendly hugging in February 2005 apparently later turned into kissing and fondling, Davis told police. Both Davis and the victim told South Charleston detectives they had sex on two occasions in March 2005, both of which were consensual. The victim said she had been given alcohol on many of her visits with Davis. The victim said Davis told her she was beautiful and how he wanted to make her happy. She told police that Davis wanted to marry her and though she didn't take his proposal seriously, she loved him.

On one occasion, the victim claimed he transformed himself into another person named "Jade." She told police she believed she was having sex with "Jade" who was inside Davis' body. Davis apparently wrestled with the girl and her brother and attempted to teach them self-defense techniques. He told police one occasion led them back to his bedroom. Tim Smith, Davis' public defender, told court officials of the suicide just before his 10:30 a.m. hearing in front of Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Duke Bloom. Smith did not return phone calls to his office. Charleston police are puzzled what drove Davis to kill himself in the Quarrier Street building even after finding a suicide note near his body. South Charleston Detective P.C. Rader, who interviewed Davis during his taped confession, said he had been the victim of an armed robbery while working at a 7-Eleven convenience store in July 2004. Rader hadn't spoken with Davis since the day of his arrest in April 2005.

"He went a long way to try to put this stuff behind him," Rader said. "To me, it shows some kind of underlying issue as well." Davis and his brother , Kraig, a 22-year-old sergeant in the Marines, were each shot three times while shooting pool at a Kanawha City bar in September 1999. Kenneth Davis, then 24, survived the attack but his brother was killed instantly. Kraig Davis was a nuclear, chemical and biological weapons defense specialist in the 2nd Tank Battalion of the 2nd Marine Division, according to military officials. Virginia Huffman, who lived next to Kenneth Davis on Pennsylvania Avenue in South Charleston, said she hadn't seen him for some time. "I knew him a little," Huffman said. "He was a wonderful person. I couldn't have asked for a better neighbor than that man." ..more.. : by Michael A. Jones, Daily Mail Staff

Standoff Has Deadly Ending

6-21-2007 West Virginia:

NEW MARTINSVILLE -- A New Martinsville stand-off between an armed man and police ended in tragedy Thursday.

Ray Allen Longwell Jr., 42, was due in court to face a charge of child molestation.

Longwell called police saying he wouldn't make his court date.

He added it wouldn't matter anyway because he was going to kill himself.

Officers from the New Martinsville Police Department, West Virginia State Police and Wetzel County Sheriff's Department rushed to Hydro Drive where his car was left.

Longwell shot himself in the woods. ..more.. by D.K. Wright

Cops Identify Body, Call Death Suicide

Man Was Sought By West Virginia Police
6-3-2007 West Virginia:

UPPER TRACT, W.Va. — The decomposed body of a man found about a month ago has been identified as Zane Truett Partain, according to a report filed by State Police Sgt. J.A. Wyatt.

Authorities estimate that Partain, a registered sex offender wanted on a probation violation in Maryland, died on Feb. 21.

The 58-year-old Partain was the subject of a search by Pendleton County police on that day after a confrontation with some family members led to a two-hour lockdown of Franklin Elementary School.

The Discovery

On May 8, Wyatt was dispatched to the Brushy Run area in Upper Tract to investigate the discovery of a decomposed body found near a culvert.

The body was sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Charleston, where an autopsy revealed that the victim had died of a single gunshot wound to the forehead, according to the report.

"Due to the decomposition, identification was difficult and took a great deal of time," Wyatt said.

School Lockdown

On Feb. 21, Franklin Elementary School was placed under a "Code Red" or lockdown condition following a recommendation from local law enforcement officers. The decision was made after the school received a telephone call from a mother of two students that "raised concerns," a school official said at the time. It’s .

But in a statement the following day, State Police Trooper A.D. Teter said that police were searching for Partain. Although he was a registered sex offender in Maryland, the confrontation Partain had with family members was not pertinent to his sex-offender status, Teter said.

Police searched around the school, but did not go inside, Teter said.

A Maryland State Police Trooper 5 helicopter patrolled around the Upper Tract area and assisted in the search, Teter added.

"This case is closed and has been determined to be a suicide. There will be no further statements or information surrounding this investigation," Wyatt added. ..more.. by Joan Ashley