April 5
• A deputy responded to Emerson Avenue for a vehicle accident. The deputy observed the vehicle to have minor damage to the front driver side bumper and the driver stated he was traveling north on Emerson Avenue when he struck a deer.
• A deputy responded to Par Metta Circle for a vehicle hitting a house. The driver stated she had set the emergency brake on the vehicle as well as left the vehicle with manual transmission in first gear. The vehicle coasted backward down the driveway striking a house. The house sustained minor damage on the exterior however the interior wall was intruded upon including at least one wall stud inside the residence. The vehicle was pulled off the house and out of the yard without further damage to the house.
PARKERSBURG Police have confirmed the identity of a man whose body was found in November.
Foul play is not suspected in the death of Richard A. Carter Jr., 31, Parkersburg Police Chief Joe Martin said Wednesday. Carter had a St. Marys address and previously lived in Washington County, he said.
Carter’s body was discovered on the afternoon of Nov. 5 in the 1300 block of Highland Avenue in Parkersburg, near 13th Street and St. Marys Avenue. The body appeared to have been in the area “for quite some time,” Martin said then.
A cause of death has not been determined, but the department is still awaiting some toxicology results, the chief said. Interviews and investigation so far indicate that “more than likely this is going to be an accidental death,” he said.
bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com
In this Nov. 5, 2019, photo, Billy Ray Johnson Jr. is escorted out of Wood County Magistrate Court by Wood County Sheriff’s Department Detective C.P. Nichols following his arraignment before magistrate Jody Purkey. (File Photo)
PARKERSBURG A number of murder trials are pending in Wood County Circuit Court as the COVID-19 pandemic and other concerns continue to impact scheduling.
Wood County Prosecutor Pat Lefebure recently told the Wood County Commission that all three circuit judges had murder trials set in the coming months.
Officials said the courts were going to need larger venues to accommodate a lot of people while maintaining social distancing guidelines and other health concerns during the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.
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PARKERSBURG City officials recently allocated more than $20,000 to the West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness to support the organization’s efforts in the area.
“They have proven helpful in getting people into safe, suitable, affordable housing,” Mayor Tom Joyce said.
The coalition is a Bridgeport-based nonprofit that leads efforts to prevent and reduce homelessness in 44 of West Virginia’s 55 counties. It’s been doing outreach work in the area for about three years, with an expansion of efforts in the last eight or nine months thanks to funding from a federal State Opiod Response grant, said Ellie Johnson, the coalition’s supervisor for the grant.