NITRO, W.Va. -- A Charleston man who was parked on Interstate 64 near Nitro later led officers on a high-speed pursuit Tuesday afternoon, police said.

Souel Rowe, 41, was driving a stolen vehicle, Nitro Police Chief Brian Oxley said. Someone called 911 and reported a car parked in the slow lane of I-64 eastbound near the Nitro exit ramp at 12:40 p.m.

A courtesy patrol worker pulled up behind the car but the driver, later identified as Rowe, who locked the doors and refused to move. A Nitro police officer arrived and got out of his cruiser.

ANSTED, W.Va. -- Police in Fayette County said two teens reported a false burglary and then ran from the scene early Tuesday.

A male called 911 at 2:30 a.m. and reported seeing two suspects breaking out windows at the Shell Mart on 123 E. Main St. and stealing merchandise.

Deputies arrived and found no evidence of a burglary, but spotted two males running from the scene, according to a news release issued by Fayette Sheriff Steve Kessler. Several deputies received minor injuries in a foot pursuit, according to the release.

CABIN CREEK, W.Va. -- A tractor-trailer went through a guardrail on the West Virginia Turnpike and ended up over the hill near Cabin Creek Road this morning.

The accident happened in the southbound lanes at about 9:45 a.m., according to a spokesman for the West Virginia Parkways Authority.

It is not yet known if anyone was hurt.

Marshall County Sheriff Kevin Cecil tells WTRF-TV that clothes on the body match the description of clothes worn by Derek Midcap when he was last seen.

Cecil says the body has been sent to the state Medical Examiner's Office for identification.

Midcap didn't return to the Northern Regional Jail from work release on June 13.

The county Board of Education voted unanimously on Monday to fire Lori Lester after hearing evidence against her in executive session, The Register-Herald reported.

Lester, who had requested the meeting, did not attend but was represented by her attorney, Jay Barringer, and a West Virginia Education Association representative. Both refused to comment after the meeting.

Charleston attorney Brett Preston had accused Lester of sending inappropriate and sexually explicit text messages to a 13-year-old male student at Trap Hill Middle in February and March.

Beckley police tell media outlets that 40-year-old Michael Brian Settle of Lochgelly was arrested Sunday night after hospital officials contacted police.

Settle is charged with third-degree sexual assault.

Police say Settle and the 60-year-old victim were both patients in the psychiatric ward at the time of the alleged assault.

POND GAP, W.Va. -- One person was killed in a wreck Monday evening on Belle Creek Road in Pond Gap, according to emergency dispatchers.

Metro 911 dispatchers said one vehicle was involved in the wreck, and the victim was pinned underneath the vehicle. The accident broke a telephone pole in half, a dispatcher said.   

Metro 911 received notice of the crash with injuries at 5:44 p.m., and about 20 minutes later the 6200 block of Belle Creek Road was closed to traffic.

Anyone with information about the shooting or Shaquille Dominique Burton's whereabouts are asked to call 911 or the Charleston Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division at 304-348-6480.

CHARLESTON, W.Va -- Charleston Police, who identified one suspect, are looking for as many as four others they think may have been involved in a shooting downtown on Monday.

Terrance Bonner, 18, of Charleston and a female companion were dropping off two other women at about 2 p.m. on Clendenin Street between the Charleston Civic Center and the Charleston Town Center when several men walked up to Bonner's red Ford, said Lt. Steve Cooper of the Charleston Police Department.

At least one of the men opened fire, Cooper said. In all, five or six shots were fired, one of which hit Bonner in the forearm, Cooper said. Police found five bullet holes in the car, and the window was shot out. A revolver may have been used in the shooting, as police found no spent shell cases.

WINFIELD, W.Va. -- One person was killed in a vehicle crash on W.Va. 34 in Hurricane late Monday morning.

The wreck happened near the intersection of U.S. 60 and W.Va. 34, near the Sycamore Landfill, a Putnam County emergency dispatcher said. The vehicle crashed into the end of a bridge.

W.Va. 34 was shut down in both directions after the wreck, and was reopened after more than two hours, another dispatcher said.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A Charleston man who pleaded guilty to charges in the stabbing of a University of Charleston football player outside a Capitol Street nightclub told a judge if given home confinement, he'd never commit another crime.

Aris Travon Hairston, 27, pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding in the January stabbing of Kevin Clemens, 18, of Pittsburgh. Impulse nightclub was shut down soon after the incident.

Kanawha Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey sentenced Hairston to 1 to 5 years in prison Monday, after listing about 20 charges he had faced since 2004.

The Associated Press

Tennis Melvin Maynard is accompanied by his attorney, Rich Weston, Monday at the Cabell County Courthouse in Huntington. Maynard was indicted in April on charges related to Mingo County Sheriff Eugene Crum's April 3 slaying.

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- A West Virginia man accused of gunning down Mingo County Sheriff Eugene Crum unsuccessfully sought pretrial release Monday, with defense lawyers arguing he is not a threat to the public because evidence suggests the killing was not random.

"One thing that I think is well-known at this point is that there is some history between the two,'' Richard Weston, a court-appointed lawyer for defendant Tennis Melvin Maynard, said during a brief bail hearing.

Weston did not elaborate while addressing Circuit Judge Paul Farrell. He declined to offer any details afterward, but did cite media reports that Crum had coached Maynard at a local boxing program in the early 1990s when Maynard was a teen.

FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. -- A man and a female juvenile were held at gunpoint Friday morning in Fayette County until police arrived.

A neighbor spotted Michael Clark, 22, of Lookout, and a juvenile female enter a house at 56 Foster Hill Road, according to Deputy R.V. Neal with the Fayette County Sheriff's Department.

The neighbor went inside his own house, grabbed a gun and told the pair to stay put until police arrived, Neal said. Police showed up 12 minutes later at 9:46 a.m. The house wasn't locked and the pair had entered through the front door, according to Neal.

Police identified the man found shot to death beside a Dumpster on John Wesley Drive in Mink Shoals on Saturday morning.

Shane Patrick Henry, 26, of Charleston, was shot "numerous times," according to Cpl. Brian Humphreys, a Kanawha County Sheriff spokesman.

Around 8:30 Saturday morning, Kanawha County 911 dispatchers received a call from a Mink Shoals resident saying that she saw a man lying on the ground next to a Dumpster, Humphreys said. Henry was dead when paramedics arrived on the scene.

The Journal says the lawsuit was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court by the brothers of 50-year-old Wayne Arnold Jones of Stephens City, Va. It says police used unreasonable and excessive force, shooting Jones 15-25 times while he was on the ground.

Neither City Manager Mark Baldwin nor Police Chief Kevin Miller immediately returned telephone messages about the case today. The city has not yet filed a response with the court.

Police said at the time they'd stopped Jones while he walking on a city street, but the reason was unclear.

Huntington Police Cpl. Gary Queen told The Herald-Dispatch the man's wife had just arrived home and exited the vehicle Thursday afternoon when it started to roll toward the street. The man, who had been home waiting for his wife to arrive, got stuck under the minivan when he tried to stop it. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Queen said incidents like this rarely happen. He acknowledged the steep topography and close proximity to other homes increased the chance somebody else might have been hurt but said it would have been best to let the vehicle go.

Tevin Christopher Williams

RAND, W.Va. -- The Kanawha County Sheriff's office is looking for a man who broke into a Rand home, fired a gun and demanded money and drugs.

An arrest warrant has been issued for Tevin Christopher "Smook" Williams, 19, of Rand.

Police believe Williams broke into a home on Elaine Drive in Rand early Wednesday morning. Residents said he demanded money and drugs, took a purse and left on foot.

PRINCETON, W.Va. -- A former Princeton Senior High School counselor who fled before sentencing on federal child pornography and trafficking charges has been arrested in Florida.

West Virginia State Police Sgt. M.D. Clemons told the Bluefield Daily Telegraph that Brett David Bowyer, 33, of Princeton, was arrested after being stopped for a traffic violation Wednesday evening in Brevard County, Fla.

"The trooper happened to have a portable fingerprint scanner and ran him right there on the side of the road," Clemons said. "He came back wanted."

HINTON, W.Va. -- A Hinton man allegedly fired multiple shots at a West Virginia State Police trooper before being hit with return fire on Wednesday.

Cpl. J.D. Cooper of the Hinton Detachment responded to reports of a man firing a gun near River Road in Raleigh County. The man was identified as Gary Richmond, 63, of Hinton.

When Cooper knocked on Richmond's door, Richmond could be seen inside with a revolver in his hand, according to a news release issued by State Police spokesman Sgt. Michael Baylous.

PRINCETON, W.Va. -- A Mercer County man convicted of killing his wife has been sentenced to life with mercy.

Tracy Lee Atwell also received a one-to-five year sentence for the abduction of the couple's 8-year-old daughter.

Atwell had pleaded guilty May 23 to first-degree murder and abduction of a child by a parent or guardian. Media outlets report that the 39-year-old Spanishburg resident was sentenced Wednesday in Mercer County Circuit Court.

Brett David Bowyer was arrested by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper in Titusville after failing to move over for a police cruiser, according to the Space Coast Daily newspaper.

Bowyer, a former high school counselor and coach at Princeton Senior High, pleaded guilty to more than 20 counts of possessing child pornography in 2011 and disappeared shortly after. He allegedly gave police a false name Wednesday and was identified with a handheld fingerprint scanner, the newspaper reported.

Bowyer was charged with resisting arrest without violence and having an improper inspection sticker. He is currently awaiting a hearing on extradition to West Virginia. Bowyer was featured on "America's Most Wanted."

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The northbound lanes of Interstate 77 are closed near the Kanawha County and Jackson County line after a car accident Wednesday evening.

West Virginia State Police say the accident happened near the 118 mile-marker between the Goldtown and Haines Branch exits. The car was on fire, according to an official at the State Police's South Charleston detachment.

Further details were not immediately available.

City manager Elke Doom tells media outlets that P.V. Powell's last day as police chief was Friday.

Powell was placed on administrative leave in May following claims that he wasn't following proper protocol.

Lt. Detective J.W. Howell has been serving as acting police chief.

Brandon Koski is charged with second-degree murder in the fatal beating of 70-year-old Hazel M. Koski. He was 18 at the time. He has been hospitalized since 2000.

The Exponent Telegram reports that Harrison County Circuit Court Judge Lewis Marks Jr. ruled this week that Koski will remain at William R. Sharpe Jr. Hospital in Weston.

Hospital associate clinical director Dr. John H. King told the judge in a letter that there's been no significant change in Koski's status.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Police are looking for a man they said fired a handgun after an argument on Charleston's East End on Tuesday.

Kevin Maurice Watson, 27, allegedly got into a verbal argument with two individuals in the 1300 block of Quarrier Street at 5 p.m.

Watson then pulled out a handgun and fired two rounds at the pair, Charleston Police Sgt. Tony Hazelett said in a news release. No one was injured.

FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. -- Fayette County businesses received several counterfeit $20 bills last week, according to Sheriff Steve Kessler.

A bank discovered the counterfeit currency Monday. Investigators, who conferred with U.S. Secret Service officials in Charleston, discovered that more counterfeit bills had cropped up during the previous week.

Police believe the culprits might have been traveling through the Kanawha Valley.

DEEP WATER, W.Va. -- A Fayette County man was arrested Monday for alleged sex crimes against a minor.

Johnnie Jim Berry Jr., 52, of Deep Water, was charged with one count of first-degree sexual abuse and one count of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian.

The victim lived at the Berry house when the alleged incident occurred.

FAIRMONT, W.Va. -- Authorities say no charges will be filed in the rescue of a dog that was swept over waterfalls at Valley Falls State Park.

Park superintendent Ron Fawcett had said he would consult with Marion County prosecutor's office on whether to charge two fishermen who jumped into the Tygart Valley River to rescue the dog.

Swimming and wading are banned at the park.

NETTIE, W.Va. -- A Nicholas County teenager beat his father to death Friday, police say.

Trevor Antonio Bateman, 18, allegedly got into an altercation with his father, Brian C. Hartley, 37, at their home at 607 Talbert Road, Nettie.

Bateman attacked Hartley, hitting him in the face and head with his fists, knees and head, according to a criminal complaint filed by Nicholas County Sheriff's Cpl. B.S. Tucker. Police found Hartley dead from severe injuries inside the residence Saturday.

U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld II said Monday that 35-year-old Anthony Young and 35-year-old Carlton Robinson each were sentenced to 10 years. Four others received prison terms ranging from about three years to nearly six years during sentenced in U.S. District Court in Clarksburg.

Ihlenfeld says Young assaulted the victim and held him while two others stabbed him several times.

Inmate Willie Vincent Meyers died on Oct. 14, 2006. Meyers was serving a six-and-a-half-year sentence for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

LOGAN, W.Va. -- A fire at a Logan County funeral home has been ruled arson, a spokesman with the state Fire Marshal's Office said Monday evening.

Chatman Funeral Home in Logan caught fire at about 3:40 a.m. Sunday, according to Logan County 911 dispatchers.

No one was in the funeral home or the two apartments above it, according to Chief Scott Beckett of the Logan Fire Department.

A distraught and suicidal woman went to two different shops in St. Albans trying to buy a gun, before leading police on a chase that ended with her refusing to leave her car and police having to use a Taser to subdue her.

The woman, whose name was not released because of the mental health nature of the incident, was taken to Thomas Hospital for mental evaluation, according to Capt. James Agee of the St. Albans Police.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week, in a 5-4 decision, that law enforcement officers can collect DNA from swabs from inside a suspect's cheek and it does not amount to an "unreasonable search."

The dissenting justices were an unusual coalition of perhaps the Court's three most liberal justices, Justices Elena Kagan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, and its most outspoken conservative, Justice Antonin Scalia.

In West Virginia, DNA swabs are only taken from people convicted of a crime and incarcerated, not those who have simply been arrested. That information is then sent off to the FBI's system of DNA profiles known as the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A wreck involving three vehicles shut down the westbound lanes of I-64 at Cross Lanes Friday at 10:02 p.m.

One vehicle was turned on its side, and one person reported injuries but refused to be transported to a hospital. The Kanawha County Sheriff's Department and Tyler Mountain Fire Department responded to the scene. The westbound lane remained closed an hour after the accident.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A Lincoln County man was arrested Thursday and charged with killing a man found dead at his home in Elkview last month.

Steven Michael Randolph, 25, of Sod, is facing a murder charge in the death of David Lemons, 28. Lemons' neighbors discovered his body in his mobile home May 20 on Darlington Lane in Elkview.

Lemons died from multiple blunt force and sharp force injuries, according to an autopsy report.

BLUEFIELD, W.Va. -- A federal grand jury has indicted more than a dozen people on charges of conspiring to distribute oxycodone in Mercer and Wyoming counties.

Media outlets reported 16 people are charged in a 51-count indictment unsealed Wednesday. Several defendants also are charged with distributing oxycodone.

ST. ALBANS, W.Va. -- A Kanawha County man was arrested and charged with counterfeiting this week after allegedly passing a phony bill to a local pizza delivery driver.

St. Albans police were called after a counterfeit $20 bill was found in the money a delivery driver brought back to the Papa John's pizza store in St. Albans May 27, Cpl. Brian Humphreys of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department said.

Humphreys said police reviewed the driver's route and discovered he had delivered a pizza to Nick Hanson, 19, who was on home confinement for burglary, non-aggravated robbery and wanton endangerment.

Thompson

 Steven Thompson, 22, of Charleston, allegedly shot Ollie Nicholson, 22, of Detroit, at a vacant house in the 1600 block of Red Oak Street, Charleston Police Lt. Steve Cooper said.

Detectives found one handgun shell casing inside the vacant home and several more casings outside.

Nicholson eventually escaped by running a few blocks to 1639 Clay Ave., where he went inside and locked the door. He then asked the female homeowner to call 911 before collapsing, Cooper said. Paramedics arrived and took Nicholson to CAMC General Hospital. Nicholson was in stable condition and is expected to recover fully, Cooper told reporters Thursday evening.

Nitro police said Crystal Dawn Marshall, 30, was crossing a side street on Main Avenue near Kanawha Brick and Block at about 9:30 a.m. Thursday, when she was hit by a car that fled the scene.

Police are talking to neighbors and trying to determine if nearby businesses have surveillance footage of the accident. Nitro Police Chief Brian Oxley said they are looking for a dark-colored car.

Media outlets report that 16 people are charged in a 51-count indictment unsealed Wednesday. Several defendants also are charged with distributing oxycodone.

According to the indictment, the drug distribution occurred from April 2011 to April 2013 in Bluefield and Matheny.

Michael J. Waller, 29, of Fairmont, was charged with four counts of sexual abuse by a person of trust.

On Tuesday, State Police Sgt. Adam Scott got a call from a pastor in Clarksburg who said the alleged victim spoke of a sexual relationship with a teacher at East Fairmont High School.

The pastor said the victim and the victim's mother didn't know where to turn, so the pastor felt it was her duty to report it to police, according to a criminal complaint filed in Marion County Magistrate Court.

FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. -- A Beckley man manipulated his elderly landlady into paying his bills, co-signing for a loan and giving him money, police said.

Joey Scott Voiers, 44, was charged with obtaining money by false pretenses and financial exploitation of the elderly.

Voiers began renting an apartment in Fayetteville from an elderly woman in 2008. He agreed to perform repairs and renovations to the woman's home in exchange for reduced rent, Fayette County Sheriff Steve Kessler said in a news release.

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. -- Police have released the names of two men critically injured in a shooting in White Sulphur Springs on Tuesday.

Henry Wright Jr., 41, of Gap Mills, shot Joshua Martin, 23, and Brian Brooks, 26, both of White Sulphur Springs, Greenbrier County Sheriff Jan Cahill said. The shooting occurred at close range inside a house on Tanis Drive in White Sulphur Springs, he said.

Paramedics flew Brooks to a hospital in Roanoke, Va., where he was in critical but stable condition Wednesday. Martin was taken to CAMC General Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition Wednesday.

HARTLAND, W.Va. -- Police do not believe the fatal shooting of a Clay County man gardening in his front yard Tuesday was random.

They are looking for a person of interest, State Police Sgt. Greg Stalnaker told reporters Wednesday.

Clarence Jackson Stone, 65, was shot to death at 2:15 p.m. while gardening in his front yard along Sycamore Street in Hartland. A witness reported hearing a gunshot, possibly from a shotgun. The witnesses looked out of the window and saw Stone slumped on the ground.

HARTLAND, W.Va. -- West Virginia State Police are investigating the Tuesday shooting death of a man in Clay County.

The shooting happened at about 1:30 p.m. near a home in Hartland, a State Police dispatcher said.

State Police spokesman Sgt. Michael Baylous identified the dead man as Clarence Jack Stone, 65, of Indore.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- State Police arrested a man and woman whom they believe were involved in a shooting that left the woman's husband dead near Alderson on Tuesday.

Joshua Neal Hubbard, 37, of Peterstown, and Amber Lee Richardson, 25, were both charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Amber Richardson's husband, Danny Ray Richardson Jr., 33, of Alderson.

State Police spokesman Sgt. Michael Baylous said someone called troopers from the Union detachment on Monday morning about 11 a.m. because Danny Richardson had not been seen for several days.

DUCK, W.Va. -- One man died in a fire that destroyed two homes in Braxton County on Tuesday.

The blaze destroyed one house and a neighboring trailer along Runyon Ridge Road in Duck early Tuesday morning, a Braxton County 911 dispatcher said.

A family of four living inside the trailer escaped without injury. Firefighters later found one man dead inside a bedroom in the home next doors, dispatchers said.

Media outlets report that a circuit judge sentenced 39-year-old Gary Allen Wiant to a year in jail on Monday, and then suspended the sentence.

Wiant had pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge in February.

Lewis County prosecutor Mike Smith says Wiant intervened when the victim, 19-year-old Cory Burkhart, attacked the teen's mother, Angela Burkhart. Cory Burkhart died from asphyxiation during a struggle.

Rusty Marks

Crews take measurements to repair a plate glass window at the Kanawha Boulevard Shoney's restaurant in Charleston after a Jeep Grand Cherokee drove into the restaurant at about 7:30 a.m. A Kanawha County Metro 911 dispatcher said no one was hurt.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Diners got a rude visit this morning at the Shoney's on Kanawha Boulevard when a vehicle smashed through one of the restaurant's windows.

A black SUV drove through a plate glass window at the Charleston eatery at about 7:30 a.m. today, according to a Kanawha County Metro 911 dispatcher. No one was hurt.

MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va. -- A Marshall County man was behind bars Monday on federal charges of threatening to kill President Obama and the president's family in a letter filled with profanity and racial slurs.

Federal court records say 20-year-old Ryan Kirker of McMechen is believed to have written the April letter to the White House that closed with the phrase, "KKK forever."

An affidavit from a U.S. Secret Service agent says forensic experts also determined that Kirker had written about plans to kill Obama in a March 28 letter to someone named John. Special Agent Ken Skaggs said indentations in the paper linked the two letters.

At about 11 p.m., 911 dispatchers received a call about shots being fired in the Wingrove Hill Road area of Scarbro, according to a news release from Fayette County Sheriff Steve Kessler.

When police arrived, they found a man who had been struck by a white Ford Mustang convertible. He was not seriously injured, but was taken to Plateau Medical Center in Oak Hill, according to the release.

The Mustang, which was abandoned at the scene, appeared to have been damaged from a close-range shotgun blast and a shotgun was found at the scene, the release states.