In the autumn of 1984, Maryann Hope Helmbright was a 13-year-old girl living in Wheeling, West Virginia. On Tuesday, October 23, she and a friend skipped school and spent the evening on Main Street. That evening, they encountered a man named Eugene Blake, who would irrevocably alter the course of countless lives. Maryann accepted a ride from Blake, a decision that would lead to a devastating conclusion.
She was last seen with him in the early hours of October 24, 1984.
Three days later, on October 26, Maryann’s body was discovered in a wooded area in Osage, Monongalia County, about 75 feet from a road. An investigation determined the young teenager had been raped and had died from a single gunshot wound to the back of her head. The investigation revealed that Blake had shot Maryann on Wheeling Island before driving her body to the rural area near Morgantown where she was found. Witnesses who had seen the young girl with Blake on the night she vanished helped lead police to their suspect.
The man responsible for Maryann’s death was Eugene Blake, a predator who was already a convicted murderer. In 1967, Blake had murdered 18-year-old Donna Jean Ball in Wayne County, West Virginia, after forcing her off the road and stabbing her. For that crime, he was sentenced to life in prison without mercy. However, while incarcerated at the West Virginia Penitentiary in Moundsville, Blake was considered a model inmate. His good behavior, along with a letter-writing campaign from prominent citizens, persuaded Governor Arch A. Moore Jr. to commute his sentence to life with the possibility of parole in 1976. Blake was paroled in 1979.
Freed from prison, Blake’s violence did not end. In March 1982, just two years before he killed Maryann, Blake murdered 21-year-old Mark Withers in Bridgeport, Ohio, and sexually assaulted his 17-year-old female companion. That case remained cold for decades. After murdering Maryann in October 1984, Blake was indicted for her murder and two counts of statutory rape in June 1985. It wasn't until 1997 that he pleaded guilty to all charges related to Maryann's death and was sentenced to a term of 15 years to life.
The full scope of Blake’s crimes came into focus years later. In 2008, advances in DNA technology linked him definitively to the 1982 murder of Mark Withers. Blake was extradited to Ohio, where prosecutors sought the death penalty. To avoid execution, Blake pleaded guilty in 2010 to aggravated murder and received another sentence of 20 years to life. This ensured he would remain behind bars, as he had been approaching parole eligibility in West Virginia for Maryann's murder.
Eugene Blake’s case is a tragic illustration of a justice system failure that allowed a violent man to kill again. Belmont County Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan, who prosecuted Blake for the Withers murder, has called him a "monster" and "the epitome of evil." Flanagan argued against a 2022 parole hearing for Blake, stating, "Predicting the road that lies ahead for Eugene Blake, if released, is easy. One only needs to look at the path that he has traveled to get to this point. It is a path strewn with bodies by a cold, calculating and premeditated murderer."
The Ohio Parole Board denied Blake’s request in June 2022, stating that his release would not serve the interest of justice. His next opportunity for parole is not until 2032, at which point he will be 87 years old. Eugene Blake, a serial killer convicted of three separate murders in two states, remains incarcerated at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution in Ohio.
