In the early morning hours of March 12, 2020, the quiet of Reese Harmon Ridge Road in the Lashmeet area of West Virginia was shattered by the sound of gunfire. Responding to reports of shots fired at approximately 6:30 a.m., deputies from the Mercer County Sheriff's Office arrived to a grim scene. There, they discovered the bodies of two young men, 19-year-old Joshua Allen Williams, a White / Caucasian male from Lashmeet, and 20-year-old Dalton Ramsey. Both had been shot and were pronounced dead at the scene, launching an immediate double homicide investigation.
The investigation quickly pointed to a primary suspect: 19-year-old Kenneth Jacob Adkins. Within a day of the discovery, law enforcement, including the U.S. Marshals Service, had tracked Adkins to Ohio, where he was apprehended on March 13, 2020. He was subsequently charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Williams and Ramsey.
The motive behind the killings was believed by the prosecuting attorney to be connected to gang or drug-related activities.
Joshua Williams was remembered as a 2018 graduate of PikeView High School, where he had been a member of both the basketball and football teams. He was known for his love of the outdoors, often riding dirt bikes and four-wheelers. His sudden and violent death sent shockwaves through the community, leaving behind a grieving family and many friends who mourned the loss of the young man.
