Story by Mike Nolting, MetroNews
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Police were able to make an arrest less than 24 hours after a Morgantown stabbing death.
Morgantown police charged Jonathan Ramirez, 23, of Watauga, Texas, Wednesday with first-degree murder in the Tuesday death of Jacob Lough.
Lough, 26, was found dead in his Milford Street residence.
Police Chief Eric Powell said good police work and a quick response were key in the arrest.
“As far as we can tell the suspect, the subject we arrested had not been here very long,” Powell said Thursday on WAJR’s “Talk of the Town.” “He was not a resident from here, he was transient.”
Powell said a co-worker went to check on Lough but could not get inside. He got inside on the second attempt to enter and discovered Lough lying on the floor between the bathroom and living room and called police. That was at 4:29 p.m. Tuesday.
“He was lying in a pool of blood, and it was apparent he had received multiple stab wounds,” Powell said. “He was unresponsive, and medical personnel quickly determined he was deceased.”
Detectives canvassed the area and immediately began working with the University Police Department, which had spotted Ramirez on campus through their surveillance system.
“They were able to locate that person through their video system in their buildings and around the area, so it assisted a great deal in finding out where he was at the time,” Powell said.
By 10 a.m. Wednesday, Ramirez was located, arrested, and charged with first-degree murder. However, Powell said investigators are still trying to establish the motive for the crime.
“I am very confident there is more than enough evidence that we’ve collected that directly links him to this crime,” Powell said.
Little is known about Ramirez at this time, but he was involved in a July 2023 Amber Alert investigation in Red River County, Texas. The 15-year-old female in that case was found unharmed.
“It was an incident from Texas that he was associated with but not necessarily arrested for involving an Amber Alert, and they found the missing person,” Powell said.
Ramirez is in the North Central Regional Jail without bail.