In the early morning hours of March 12, 2020, the bodies of 19-year-old Caucasian male Dalton Ramsey and his friend, Joshua Allen Williams, also 19, were discovered at a residence on Reese Harmon Ridge Road in Lashmeet, a community in Mercer County, West Virginia. A homeowner found the two young men with gunshot wounds and immediately contacted the Mercer County Sheriff's Department, who arrived at the scene around 6:30 a.m. and pronounced both individuals dead. The investigation into their deaths was promptly classified as a double homicide.
Authorities moved swiftly to identify a person of interest in the case. The Mercer County Sheriff's Department identified Kenneth Jacob Adkins, 19, as a suspect in the fatal shootings. Investigators released a photograph of Adkins to the public as they sought to locate him for questioning.
The motive for the killings was believed by the Mercer County Prosecuting Attorney to be potentially related to gang or drug activities.
The search for the suspect extended beyond West Virginia, involving the collaboration of multiple law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Marshals Service. Their efforts quickly led them to Ohio, where Kenneth Jacob Adkins was apprehended just one day after the discovery of the victims. Adkins was taken into custody and subsequently faced two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Dalton Ramsey and Joshua Williams. He was held in Ohio awaiting extradition back to West Virginia to face the charges.
