PETERSBURG, W.Va. — A man wanted in a Delaware kidnapping case took his own life as police pursued him earlier this week in Hardy and Grant counties.
According to state police, they received a BOLO “be on the lookout” alert from Delaware State Police Thursday at around 8:45 a.m. It was believed that Steven Smith had abducted his estranged wife, Jordan Cahall, possibly at gunpoint in Delaware.
A few hours later, a cell phone ping put Smith’s vehicle in the Grant and Hardy county area. Police spotted the vehicle on U.S. Route 220 in Moorefield where city police attempted a traffic stop but Smith kept going. More police officers joined the pursuit as it continued through Petersburg in Grant County. Smith’s vehicle struck two cruisers during a rolling roadblock on Route 28/55. The vehicle went out of control and over an embankment.
When they reached the vehicle, troopers found Smith dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and Cahall in the rear of the vehicle. She was taken to Grant Memorial Hospital for non life-threatening injuries.