KINGWOOD — A Detroit man is charged with murdering a Maryland man in a remote area of Preston County.
Three others, including a Morgantown man, are charged with kidnapping and assaulting the victim, 41-year-old Jimmy Lee Barkley.
The investigation started on Oct. 14 when the Garrett County Sheriff’s Office began looking into the kidnapping of Barkley, according to a press release by Preston County Sheriff Paul “Moe” Pritt.
The investigation found Barkley was taken by force from a home in Oakland, Md., and transported to a cabin near Eglon.
According to the release, in the late hours of Oct. 12 and into the early morning hours of Oct 13, Dashawn Nichelle Scott, 25, and Roy Tyson Cheshire of Oakland, and Andrew William Wassick, of Morgantown, found Barkley in the home, stripped him down, tied him up, forced him into a vehicle and took him to the cabin.
“Upon arrival, a completely subdued Barkley was relinquished to an unknown male who had directed the subjects to find him for retribution,” the release states. “Shortly thereafter, witnesses reported that they heard multiple gunshots in the wooded area near the cabin.”
After arriving at the cabin, Damon Lamont Hudgens, 21, of Detroit, “walked a fully restrained Jimmy Lee Barkley to a secluded area near that residence and pre-meditatedly killed him,” a criminal complaint charging him with first-degree murder states. Hudgens was 20 at the time of the alleged murder; his birthday is Oct. 19.
On Oct. 14, the Mon Metro Drug Task Force and the Pennsylvania State Police Troop B Vice conducted operations in Uniontown, Pa., the release states. During those operations, Hudgens and Wassick were arrested. Hugdens was arrested by the Mon Metro Task Force during a raid on Lorentz Street.
On Oct. 16, Garrett County detectives got information about the shooting and the location of it. Deputies from Preston County went to the scene, on Kight Road, with K-9 units from the Grafton Volunteer Fire Department Search and Rescue Team and found Barkley “deceased in the remote area.”
Hudgens was identified as the man who pre-meditatedly killed Barkley after multiple witnesses were identified and interviewed, the release states.
At the time of the release, Hudgens, Cheshire, Scott, and Wassick have been arrested.
Cheshire, Scott, and Wassick are each charged with kidnapping/first- and second-degree assault. Hudgens is charged with first-degree murder.
The investigation is ongoing and more arrests are expected, the release states.
TWEET @DominionPostWV
