Bond set at $1 million for man accused of killing his wife

KINGWOOD — Bond has been set at $1 million for a Kingwood man accused of stabbing his wife to death Tuesday.
Joseph Edward Harrison, 26, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of his estranged wife, Kimberly Dawn Harrison, 27. Preston Magistrate Bo Ward set bail late Tuesday, after Harrison’s arrest.
According to the return of service on a search warrant issued so that police could obtain a DNA sample from Harrison, his clothing, fingernail scrapings and other evidence, the stabbing occurred during an altercation at the Rodeheaver Trailer Court, in Kingwood.
Kimberly Harrison lived there, according to police.
Several witnesses saw Harrison stab Kimberly in the chest with a knife then flee with blood on his clothing, according to the return. After fleeing he appeared at a local business with blood on his hands, other witnesses reported, according to the return.
Harrison also had blood on his clothing when he stopped at a home on Borgman Manown Road late Tuesday, the homeowner said. (The Dominion Post has agreed not to release the homeowner’s name to protect his privacy.)
The homeowner said Harrison told him he had wrecked his motorcycle and asked for a ride to his grandmother’s, but the man refused.
Harrison then asked to use a phone to call his grandmother. The homeowner assumed the blood on Harrison’s clothing was due to the accident.
But while Harrison was on the phone, the man was able to overhear the conversation between him and a woman Harrison referred to as his grandmother.
“She said, ‘I can’t help you. You need to turn yourself in. Why do you want to get an old lady in that kind of trouble?’” the homeowner said.
Harrison also mentioned his mother, the homeowner said, and the woman on the line told him, “She doesn’t want anything to do with you either,” and said that police would be looking for him and could shoot him. “I’d rather see you in jail than dead,” the woman said.
“I felt kind of bad for not helping him, but once I heard his grandmother, I thought it was more than just no plates on the motorcycle or something,” the homeowner said.
Harrison left the home and wasn’t out of the driveway before a police cruiser pulled over, and he was on the ground and handcuffed, the homeowner said. Other cruisers, a total of seven, quickly arrived.
Preston Chief Deputy P.A. Pritt said officers were searching the area at the time because it was one that Harrison was known to go to.
Harrison was in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail Wednesday.