UPDATE 11:45 Monday: The preliminary hearing for Joseph Metz was postponed until Friday morning in Lewis County Magistrate Court.
LEWIS COUNTY, W.Va. — The man charged in the slaying of his mother and grandmother will be in court Monday for a probable cause hearing.
Harrison County Special Magistrate Tammy Marple will preside over the hearing for Joseph Metz, 39, of Horner scheduled for 9 a.m. in Lewis County.
Lewis County’s two magistrates were recused because they were in law enforcement at the time of the 1999 homicides.
Metz is accused of murdering his mother, Mary Friend, 46, and his grandmother, Maxine Stalnaker, 69, both of Jane Lew, on December 1, 1999.
He is charged with two counts of murder, two counts of kidnapping and two counts of robbery.
Two other defendants, David Martin Hughes, 58, and Charles S. Freeman, 51, both of Archbold, Ohio, face the same charges in the case.