West Virginia man, 22, 'messed up' and fatally shot mother-in-law in head, confesses to cops
LOGAN COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA: Zachary Curtis Ball, 22, has been arrested after he fatally shot his mother-in-law, Lamanda Lynn Vance. He has been charged with one count of second-degree murder after he confessed to the crime, as per Law&Crime.
Ball confessed to shooting the 42-year-old after deputies with the Logan County Sheriff’s Office responded to calls of an active shooter on Sunday, October 16 at approximately 8.30 pm in the 1200 block of Huffman Branch Road in Pecks Mill. While the deputies were on the way, the 911 call center identified the suspect to be Ball.
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The complaint read that Ball "ran from the scene towards the main road" after having shot Vance. Upon reaching the residence, the police questioned a witness who also corroborated the fact that the shooter had run across the street. They also revealed that Ball had taken off in the direction of the railroad tracks. Vance was found lying on the porch with a gunshot wound to the head.
According to a report by WYMT-TV, Deputy Timothy Johnson said, "As soon as we arrived at the mouth of the hollow, we met with a subject that said that he was possibly going down the railroad tracks." After a thorough search of the area, Ball was found by the authorities. He was said to have been hiding inside a culvert, following which he was arrested for the murder. As per the report, the complaint stated that the deputy was able to "detect the odor of alcohol coming from the defendant" and he continuously repeated that he had "messed up and shot her." Ball's wife told the police that her husband had "shot her mother and then walked away from the scene carrying the gun with him."
Following the incident, officials scoured the area where Ball was found with metal detectors in order to find the murder weapon. However, the gun has not been located. Johnson mentioned that the police have nevertheless, found a magazine. He added that the surrounding "foliage was not in the best interest for trying to find an item that was black in color or suspected to be black in color." This has apparently made the search for the gun used by Ball "extremely hard" to find.
Police have described the events surrounding Vance's murder as a "domestic situation that went south." Meanwhile, Ball is being held in the Southwestern Regional Jail.