HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Huntington Police said additional arrests were possible following this week’s initial capture of a man who’d reportedly been an early suspect in the murder of a woman whose body was found dismembered in the Guyandotte River last September.
Charges against Argie Lee Jeffers, Sr., 73, of Huntington, who was being held Thursday in the Western Regional Jail, included murder and concealment of a body.
On Sept. 23, 2017, a fisherman found parts of the body of Carrie Sowards, who was also known as C.J. Worrell Wood, age 40, near a boat ramp launching the investigation from Huntington Police.
Fingerprint analysis and tattoos were used to help identify Sowards’ body.
An autopsy later determined she’d been shot before being dismembered.
Investigators said this week’s arrest of Jeffers came after they were notified Jeffers was allegedly attempting to dispose of more evidence, including body parts believed to be from Sowards, in buckets at a car wash dumpster in Huntington.
Jeffers claimed the buckets contained drugs that Sowards had stolen and “that is what got her killed,” according to the criminal complaint.
At his arraignment on Wednesday night, Jeffers told WSAZ Television someone was setting him up for the crime.
“It’s just a bunch of (expletive deleted),” Jeffers said. “I didn’t do it. I’m not guilty, but there are a lot of people setting me up wanting money.”
Jeffers and Sowards had reportedly been in a relationship that Jeffers described as “volatile.