The Morgantown man accused of stabbing 47-year-old Jamey Corbin to death appeared from North Central Regional Jail via video before Monongalia Magistrate Court Judge Jim Nabors Monday morning for a preliminary hearing.
According to Detective Jonathan Friend of the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department, who was called by Assistant Prosecutor Brandon Benchoff to testify about the investigation, Corbin was “stabbed five times which caused his death.”
Friend said it was information provided by Corbin’s mother that led them to investigate Chance Williams, 23.
“She stated that Jamey had been seeing a guy named Chance Williams who lived here in Morgantown,” Friend recalled. “And that they had had a tumultuous relationship for the past couple of years. She said if anyone would be involved it would be him.”
Corbin’s body was discovered in the early morning hours of Nov. 15 at the scene of what initially appeared to be a single vehicle accident just past the intersection of Green Bag Road and Luckey Lane heading toward Sabraton
In his testimony, Friend said when deputies arrived on the scene that morning they observed a vehicle that was crashed into the ditch and was still in drive with the engine running. After approaching, the vehicle deputies found the scene “unusual” and called detectives.
“There was a large volume of blood inside the vehicle,” the detective explained. “There was blood spatter all over the dash, the seats, as well as a pool of blood inside the cupholder of the vehicle.
“On the passenger side seat there was only a little bit of blood spatter and there appeared to be a void pattern,” he said.
Friend explained to the court that a void pattern happens when blood is initially spattered and something that is no longer there had been covering the area, preventing blood from hitting it.
“That typically indicates to us that there was someone else inside the vehicle before the incident took place,” Friend said.
Additional evidence was discovered during a warranted search of William’s residence on White Avenue in Morgantown, including bloody clothing and a knife believed to be the murder weapon.
“There was pants that had a large volume of blood on them. There was a shirt that had blood on the sleeves and the neck. There was boots that had blood spatter on them as well,” Friend testified. “We also located a knife that we believe to have been involved in the incident.”
Friend said the knife was found in the kitchen of the residence and appeared to have been cleaned but investigators observed small droplets of blood in the screw holes of the handle. Blood samples were also found and collected from the door handle of Williams’ home.
Williams’ parents and other relatives were interviewed by detectives and revealed that he had been to the residence earlier that morning.
According to Friend, Williams’ mother said that morning “her son had stated to her that he had killed Jamey.
“She said he complained that his hands hurt and that he killed Jamey,” the detective said. He also stated that he had changed clothes.
Williams managed to avoid arrest for over a week, but was eventually captured with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Task Force.
“The same day the arrest warrants were obtained our office requested the assistance of the Marshals Task Force,” Friend said. “Area law enforcement searched for Williams for the next 10 days including surveillance of his residence.”
On the 10th day, Williams was seen on surveillance arriving back at his parents’ White Avenue address and was taken into custody without incident.
Detective Friend said Williams agreed to be interviewed at the sheriff’s office and eventually confessed to murdering Corbin.
Investigators attempted to debrief Williams about his location during the 10 days, Friend said, but he was reluctant to provide information because “he didn’t want to get anybody else in trouble.”
“He did state that the first three days he did spend in the woods off of the rail trail but not specifically to any other locations,” the detective said.
Friend said Williams stated during the interview that he was an alcoholic and that he was coming off of a narcotic but he said he was “good right then.”
Defense attorney Scott Shough, who is representing Williams, also questioned the detective primarily about the collection and availability of evidence supporting their claims.
Friend testified that interviews were recorded, evidence photographed, and results from evidence sent to forensic labs are still pending. He added that they are limited on the number of items they are allowed to send to the lab so only the items most related to the event were sent for analysis.
Based on Friend’s testimony, Judge Nabors found the state established probable cause that Williams committed the crime of first degree murder and the case will now move on to be heard by the grand jury.
Williams is currently being held without bond.
