WINFIELD, W.Va. — The Putnam County prosecutor tells MetroNews he’s coordinating closely with the Cabell County prosecutor in an ongoing murder investigation.
Justin Groff, 30, of Hurricane, faces a pair of murder charges in separate incidents. One of the murders was in Teays Valley, in Putnam County back on Monday. The other happened a day later in the Cabell County community of Culloden.
“There’s two different venues. The one in Culloden has to be tried in Cabell and the one in Putnam has to be tried in Putnam County, so there are two separate cases and they can’t be connected because it’s two different jurisdictions,” Putnam County Prosecutor Mark Sorsaia said Friday.
Sorsaia was guarded with any information he would release about the ongoing probes, but he did indicate these were not two random killings.
“This has been described as a ‘drive-by shooting.’ I should let the public know I don’t believe it’s the kind of thing where someone is pulling the trigger and randomly picking targets. Evidence in the case indicates these people are all connected,” he said.
But how they are connected was not revealed. John Glaspell was shot dead outside his apartment complex on Mt. Vernon Road in Teays Valley. A day later, Dec. 8, Toni Cremeans, was shot and killed as she sat in her car in the driveway of her home on 3rd Street in Culloden.
“It’s my impression it was a targeted encounter. Somebody went there with a plan. I can just suggest that by how it went down. Both people were shot outside their residences,” Sorsaia explained. “They’re connected. You could describe it as ‘socially’.”
Sorsaia couldn’t confirm if the shootings were somehow drug-related.
“It could be complicated. Sometimes things like this could happen for multiple purposes. I wouldn’t want to oversimplify some speculation about that,” he said.
Groff remained in the Western Regional Jail awaiting separate preliminary hearings in each county. He’s being held without bail.