Posted on 04/22/2003 8:13:37 PM PDT by apillar
SILVERTON — Investigators believe a Jackson County woman stabbed herself in the throat and set fire to her trailer to cover up the fatal stabbing of an elderly woman and the burning of the woman’s trailer.
“Yes, that’s what we’re leaning toward,” said Dave Martin, the chief deputy for the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department. “We’re leaning to believe that based on our interview with her and other people, yes.
“This is a different twist.”
April Miller, 38, faces first-degree murder charges after a fire early Saturday morning at the Wilding Acres Trailer Park.
The body of Ethel Matheny, her 74-year-old neighbor, was found in the trailer. Matheny was stabbed fatally with a pair of scissors, police said. She also had a telephone cord wrapped around her neck with the other end tied to a vanity, police said.
“Somewhere between 8 and 9 a.m., the body was discovered,” Martin said. “It had the appearances of a homicide at that point.”
Then, between 10 and 11 a.m. Monday, another fire broke out at the trailer occupied by Miller, police said. The two trailers were 220 feet apart.
“We felt that both had a tie in with one another,” Martin said. “There was some other information that was developed that led to interviewing Miss Miller.”
Investigators said that on Saturday morning, Miller went to a local BB&T banking branch to cash a $5,000 check written out by Matheny.
Miller was arrested late Monday evening after being released from Jackson General Hospital, police said. She was being held this morning at South Central Regional Jail. No bond had been set.
This morning, police said they were questioning a man named Jesse Rhodes, who was described as Miller’s boyfriend.
Martin credited the state fire marshal’s office with giving investigators an early lead on the apparent homicide.
“You hear this all the time, but it’s really true,” Martin said. “We were fortunate to have a good cooperative effort with the fire marshal’s office.”
Trailer park resident Rachel Randolph lived between the two women. She described Matheny as someone who spent a lot of time alone, went to town about once a week and worked regularly in her flower garden.
She said Miller was known for walking her dog late at night. She believed Miller sometimes did work for Matheny.
Randolph learned of the first fire when she was awakened between 4:30 and 5 a.m. Saturday by a man knocking on her door to try to get help for Matheny.
Randolph’s boyfriend and the man who came to the door started trying to knock out the windows of the burning trailer to try to get Matheny out, Randolph said.
“It seemed like she could have gotten out,” Randolph said. “It was obvious they weren’t getting a response.”
After Monday’s fire at Miller’s trailer, people in the trailer park became particularly concerned, she said. Randolph said a rumor started going around that a man had broken into Miller’s trailer, tried to kill her and set the trailer on fire.
Randolph said the rumor was odd because children who witnessed the fire told trailer park residents that they heard screams inside the trailer but never saw a man come out.
I lived in this mobile home park for several years after graduating college while saving up to purchase a home. It was sort of a "dive" but the rent was dirt cheap, utilities were included and every one pretty much kept to themselves. Most of the other residents were in similar situations, just starting out, down on their luck etc.
Ms. Matheny was the one bright spot during the time me and my wife lived there. Her husband had died many years before and she lived with her little dog in a trailer across from us. She was in her late sixties at the time and was a sweet grandmotherly women. She took my newlywed wife under her wing and imparted the type of advice that only comes through the wisdom of years. In fact I would go as far as to say she was the major reason we made it through those rough first couple years of marriage and remain a happily married seven years later.
Four years ago we purchased our home and left the park, the character of the place was changing, the "kids just starting out" and the folks "down on their luck" were quickly being replaced by drug addict, welfare/SSI "queens" and various criminal types. In fact the reason we decided to go ahead and purchase a home was that within a short period of time our trailer was broken into and in a separate incident a window was busted out.
After we moved out my wife would talk to Ms. Matheny on the phone occasionaly and when I got a job with the Department of Defense I used her as a "personal contact" for my security clearance. But, as often happens when you have a family and a full time job, time passes by too fast. My wife hadn't talked to Ms. Matheny in nearly a year. We had planned to take her some flowers over Christmas, but those plans somehow got lost in the hustle and bustle of the season. Now we will never have the chance.
Sorry if I'm rambling on, but, I think I'm still in shock. This thing just doesn't happen in Jackson County, WV. It's not uncommon, or at least it wasn't, to go 5 or 6 years without a murder in the county. I think their have been maybe 5 murders in the 20 years I have lived here and most of those were the "bar fight gets out of hand type thing". I guess what I'm trying to say, take time to call and visit your friends because you never know when it will be your last chance.
I just wanted to say it was nice reading your kind words - it was very personal for me too. Ethel was my grandmother and today for the first time I read a news article about this horrific event that nearly tore my family apart...I didn’t expect to see comments from friends of hers. Please, I know it’s been a long time & you may never see this but I am sure she would still love those flowers. She was buried at Willow Island cemetery.
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