Coal company executive Ben Hatfield found dead in Mingo cemetery

[mahatmakanejeeves]

I saw this last night, but my connection was too slow for posting this in LBN.

Monday, May 23, 2016

Coal exec Hatfield found dead in Mingo cemetery

From staff reports

Coal industry executive Ben Hatfield was found dead in a Mingo County cemetery Monday. ... Bennett K. “Ben” Hatfield, an engineer and longtime coal company executive who worked for Massey Energy and Arch Coal, was found dead from a gunshot wound in a Mingo County cemetery Monday, according to Mingo Prosecuting Attorney Teresa Maynard. ... Maynard said Hatfield’s death is being investigated as a homicide.

Mingo Sheriff James Smith told MetroNews that Hatfield’s body was found at about 6:30 a.m. Monday over a hill at Mountain View Memory Gardens, in Maher, outside Williamson. Hatfield’s wife, Debbie, who died in 2009, is buried at that cemetery, according to her obituary. The couple had been married 25 years when she lost her battle with breast cancer.

Hatfield was CEO of International Coal Group in 2006, when that company’s Sago Mine, in Upshur County, blew up, killing 12 miners. ... Later, he was chief executive officer of Patriot Coal, amid that company’s first of two Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings.

Last year, he joined the board of directors of St. Louis-based Foresight Energy, which has operations in the Illinois basin and was founded by West Virginia native and billionaire coal operator Chris Cline.

[MADem]

1. Homicide? Or suicide?

I can see why he'd be depressed...?

[Staph]

5. Homicide.

The gun used to kill him was found at a nearby riverbank, and a suspect, Anthony Arriaga, has been arrested. No word yet on motive.

The case just keeps getting weirder though. . . .

After allegedly shooting Hatfield, Arriaga went over the river bank and removed his clothing. He then went a few hundred yards down river and went up into the yard of a nearby residence just north of the cemetery, according to Sheriff Smith. From that point he told the resident he had fallen in the river and if he could get some clothes, he would pay them for a ride to Wayne County, W.Va.

“Once he heard what was going on, he let us know he gave this subject a ride to Wayne County,” Smith said. The sheriff said law enforcement were puzzled until the resident stepped forward to report the suspect.

From Wayne, W.Va. Arriaga apparently got another ride back to his home in Ohio. He allegedly had told acquaintances in Wayne that he had shot a man and needed to go home. Arriaga is being held in Allen County, Ohio and the MCSD is waiting for an extradition procedure before transporting the suspect back to Mingo County for his arraignment.

http://williamsondailynews.com/news/4700/arrest-made-in-ben-hatfield-murder

[MADem]

6. Wow--it sure does! nt

[yeoman6987]

2. Sad for family and friends. Sending positive vibes to them.

[CompanyFirstSergeant]

3. If you visit Mingo County....

Nearly half of the businesses in the area are named "Hatfield.........."

And nearly half the businesses in the area are named "McCoy........"

I'm serious.

[elleng]

4. Was thinking of that.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. Second arrest made in murder of former W.Va. coal executive

Second arrest made in murder of former W.Va. coal executive

By WSAZ News Staff; Andrew Colegrove | Posted: Mon 4:42 PM, May 23, 2016 | Updated: Tue 4:30 PM, May 24, 2016

UPDATE 5/24/16 @ 4:15 p.m.
MINGO COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A second person has been arrested in connection with the murder of a former W.Va. coal executive.

Ben Hatfield was found shot to death in the Mountain View Memory Gardens Cemetery in Mingo County early Monday morning.

Hatfield had been reported missing after not returning to Kanawha County. He had been visiting his wife's grave at the cemetery.

Mingo County Sheriff James Smith tells WSAZ they pinged Hatfield's phone and it led them to the cemetery, where they found his body.

Anthony Arriaga, 20, of Gibsonburg, Ohio, was arrested early Tuesday morning in Allen County, Ohio, which is more than five hours away from Mingo County. He is charged with first degree murder in Hatfield's death.

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Arrest made in coal company executive’s death

By Erin Beck, Staff Writer
Reach Erin Beck at [e-mail], 304-348-5163, Facebook.com/erinbeckwv, or follow @erinbeckwv on Twitter.

An Ohio man was arrested early this morning for allegedly killing Bennett K. “Ben” Hatfield in a Mingo County cemetery, where Hatfield was preparing his late wife’s and other family member’s graves for Memorial Day.

Anthony R. Arriaga, 20, was arrested without incident at about 2 a.m. at a relative’s home in Delphos, Ohio, according to police. He is charged with first-degree murder. ... Mingo County Sheriff James Smith said this afternoon that police still had not determined a motive.

Smith said that police were able to tie the shooting to Arriaga when a person who lived near the cemetery stepped forward. The neighbor said Arriaga arrived at their home, in his underwear, said he fell in the river and gave them $45 to drive him to a Rite-Aid in Wayne County.

Hatfield, an engineer and longtime coal company executive who worked for Massey Energy and Arch Coal, was found over a hillside, dead from a gunshot wound in the Mountain View Memory Gardens in Maher, outside Williamson, at about 6:30 a.m. Monday, according to Smith.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

8. Former Coal Executive Was Target of Random Robbery, Police Say

Former Coal Executive Was Target of Random Robbery, Police Say

Authorities say suspect confessed to killing Bennett Hatfield in a cemetery as he visited his wife’s grave

By Kris Maher
[e-mail]

Updated May 26, 2016 12:34 a.m. ET

A former coal industry CEO who was murdered earlier this week in southern West Virginia was an accidental victim of a drug-related robbery gone bad, according to police who said a 20-year-old man confessed to the crime Wednesday.

Police said Anthony Arriaga, of Gibsonburg, Ohio, confessed to shooting Bennett Hatfield, 59, while the former chief executive of Patriot Coal was visiting his deceased wife’s grave at a cemetery near Williamson, W.Va., along the Kentucky border in Mingo County.

Mr. Hatfield’s body was found early Monday morning over a hillside next to the cemetery after he had been reported missing. Police arrested Mr. Arriaga in Allen County, Ohio, on Tuesday and charged him with first-degree murder.

First Sgt. Andy Perdue of the West Virginia State Police said that Mr. Arriaga was selling drugs in Mingo County with Brandon Fitzgerald, 18, when the two ran out of money and decided to rob someone. He said the men targeted Mr. Hatfield after seeing his GMC Denali and didn't know who he was.