3 crime scenes, 4 victims in W.Va. shooting spree

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 the Morgantown area, 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 three crime 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, a man who lived in 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.