Business

3rd person charged in investigation of coal exec's death

Posted May 25, 2016 7:00 am

The Associated Press

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - A third person has been charged in the death of former coal executive Bennett Hatfield.

Elsmere, Kentucky, Police Chief Timothy Thames (THAYMZ') said Wednesday that 18-year-old Brandon Lee Fitzpatrick of Louisa, Kentucky, was charged by West Virginia authorities with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Fitzpatrick was being held in the Kenton County jail pending extradition proceedings.

Police earlier charged 20-year-old Anthony R. Arriaga of Delphos, Ohio, with murder in the fatal shooting of Hatfield on Monday at Mountain View Memory Gardens, a cemetery in southern West Virginia.

Arriaga's aunt, Yolanda Arriaga-Traylor, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she doesn't believe it is in her nephew's character to commit such a crime.

A 20-year-old West Virginia man, Ricky Dean Peterson, was also charged with being an accessory after the fact, obstructing and providing false information to an officer.

FILE - In this May 4, 2006, file photo, International Coal Group chief executive Bennett Hatfield makes his closing statement during the final day of the Sago Mine disaster hearings at West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, W.Va. West Virginia State Police say longtime coal company executive Hatfield was found dead Monday, May 23, 2016. (AP Photo/Dale Sparks, File) The Associated Press

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