DRUG LINK PROBED IN KANAWHA SHOOTING

[Picture]

Kanawha County Chief Deputy Phil Morris, left, shows a
computer-generated image of a Ford F-150 truck Wednesday, Aug. 20,
2003, in Charleston, W.Va., at a news conference about a series of
shootings in Kanawha County. The pickup is similar to a vehicle that
eyewitnesses have described as being at the scene of one of the shootings.

CHARLESTON -- The investigation of three recent shooting deaths at
Charleston-area gas stations indicates at least two of the crimes were
more likely deliberate, drug-related killings, Kanawha County's chief
deputy said Wednesday.

The shootings have grabbed national headlines for a week as possible
acts of random violence, similar in many ways to the sniper shootings
in the Washington, D.C., area last year. But a two-day community
outreach program in the Campbells Creek area, where one of the
shootings occurred, turned up a number of leads indicating a drug
connection, said Chief Deputy Phil Morris.

But the changing focus of the investigation has not calmed the fears
of some in the Charleston area.

"Drug related or not, there is still someone out there who has been
killing people," said Jeremy Watkins, 29, of Charleston. "It still
makes me nervous."

Norma Gleason, 41, of Marmet, W.Va. will continue to avoid pumping gas
alone at night until the case is solved.

"I just don't want to take any chances," she said.

Ballistics evidence shows that the same type weapon was used to kill
both 31-year-old Jeanie Patton and 26-year-old Okey Meadows Jr.,
Kanawha County Sheriff Dave Tucker said Wednesday.

"The bullets that killed Meadows and Patton came from the same type
firearm -- a .22-caliber rifle," Tucker said.

Patton was gunned down Aug. 14 while she pumped gas into her car at a
Speedway in Campbells Creek approximately 90 minutes prior to Meadows
being shot while he paid for gas at a Go Mart in Cedar Grove, a
neighborhood outside Charleston.

Ballistics test results have not been returned on the recovered
fragments from the shooting death of Gary Carrier Jr., Tucker said.
Carrier was shot and killed while he talked on a pay phone at a Go
Mart on Bigley Avenue in Charleston four days before the killing of
Patton and Meadows.

Tuesday, a family member of one of the victims came forward to police
and fortified the drug-related theory by supplying new information, he
said.

"A family member came to us and said that cocaine is possibly
involved," Morris said.

He would not identify which family member of which victim gave police
the information. None of the victims have a criminal history involving
drugs in Kanawha County, according to Magistrate Court records.

Meadows had been charged with battery on three occasions between
February 2000 and November 2001, according to court records. Charges
were dismissed twice, and in November 2002 he was placed on six months
probation and ordered to undergo anger management training. He also
was charged with being absent without leave from the 130th Civil
Engineering Squadron of the West Virginia National Guard 32 times
between October 2000 and May 2001. The charges were all dismissed
because officers did not appear for the court proceedings, according
to court records.

Carrier was also charged with battery in 1994, but the charges were
dismissed, according to court records.

The hunt is still on for a dark-colored pickup truck, possibly a newer
model Ford F150, Morris said. An animated picture of a truck similar
to the ones described by witnesses was distributed Wednesday at a news
conference at the Kanawha County Courthouse. A company that
specializes in digital animation is working on creating an image that
would place the truck on the Cedar Grove Go Mart parking lot, where it
was seen the night of the shooting, Morris said.

Witnesses in Campbells Creek have also reported seeing a similar truck
in the area of the Speedway prior to Patton's death last Thursday
night, he said.

A search is on for more people who might have seen the truck in the
area of the shootings Thursday night, Morris said.

But despite the information, investigators are not ruling out the
possibility that the shootings were random. For the second consecutive
day, Tucker emphasized the department's active efforts to avoid
getting "tunnel vision" with the investigation.

If the murders are determined to be drug related, the shooter could
face the death penalty if charged with the federal crime of causing
death in relation to drug trafficking.

A connection between the shooting deaths 29-year-old Randy Burgess and
the deaths of Patton, Carrier and Meadows has still not been ruled
out, Tucker said. Burgess was shot at Kroger store in Charleston on
March 20.

Ballistics experts are continuing to examine the evidence in the
Carrier shooting and investigators are continuing to look at the
Burgess shooting.

Results from the analysis of bullet fragments in the Carrier shooting
could be completed soon, Tucker said.

He would not cite a reason why the analysis of a bullet from the first
shooting is taking longer than that of the two more recent shootings.

However, a Marshall University forensics expert has an
idea.

Bullets that have struck hard objects like concrete are more difficult
to test, said Ray DePriest, technological leader for the Marshall
Forensics program.

The damage done to the bullet makes it more difficult to match the
subtle marks left by the rifling in the barrel of a weapon, he said.
For the third day in a row Sheriff's Department bicycle patrols
continued in the Campbells Creek area in search of more information,
Morris said.