CABELL COUNTY, W.Va. — Evidence from a murder scene in Cabell County was being flown to Indiana on Monday with help from West Virginia State Police to be compared with evidence from a separate crime scene there as investigators tracked an accused killer.
Cabell County Sheriff Chuck Zerkle said the potential suspect, Timothy Sargent, 42, of Akron, Ohio, who was arrested Monday in South Dakota, was believed to be responsible for a murder on Wednesday, Aug. 19, in Milton.
Sargent was also allegedly tied to crimes within the past week in Ohio, including a murder in Akron, along with West Virginia and Indiana.
“We’ve just got to get this thing figured out and, if we were part of the multi-state killing spree, then we’ve got to put some closure to it,” said Sheriff Zerkle.
On Monday morning, he confirmed Sargent and an alleged accomplice, Savanna Emich, 20, were taken into custody in Sioux Falls, South Dakota following a pursuit.
The two were reportedly not cooperating with investigators at that point.
“There was a wide array of time and states that had passed and, subsequently, a lot of people got hurt in the aftermath,” Sheriff Zerkle told MetroNews.
Early last Wednesday morning, his deputies responded to what was an initial emergency call about a deadly vehicle wreck on Route 60 near Milton.
Further investigation revealed the man killed, David Wesley Martin, 62, of Milton, had been shot twice.
“He had left an establishment in the early hours of that day and there was a vacant gas station there close by. I think he pulled off there for a minute and was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Sheriff Zerkle said.
Investigators determined Sargent and Emich were in Cabell County around that time.
“We’ve got evidence to lead us to believe that they used a credit card device nearby in close proximity of time that had transpired to the murder,” he said.
There were also indications the same caliber weapon was used in both the West Virginia and Indiana shootings.
Additional evidence analysis in Indiana was expected to wrap up by the end of the day Monday.
A warrant for attempted murder was previously issued for Sargent for the shooting of a man on Monday night, Aug. 17, near the Towpath Trail in Akron, Ohio.
Sargent was also later identified as the suspect in the deadly shooting of Rebecca Tomlinson, 22, whose body was found Tuesday, Aug. 18 in Akron, Ohio.
The shooting near O’Bannon State Park in New Albany, Indiana was reported on Wednesday night.
Two people in a vehicle were wounded when they said someone started firing from a vehicle that was passing them, according to local reports.
Emich faced potential charges with Sargent for that shooting.
The search for both Sargent and Emich continued through the weekend in several states.
As of Monday morning, neither had been charged with Martin’s murder in Cabell County.
“We’re continuing to work this as an ongoing murder investigation. We have not closed our murder investigation and we’re still conducting leads and other things that are ongoing here in Cabell County, but this thing is looking like it’s pointing toward Timothy Sargent,” Zerkle said.