Story by Alex Wiederspiel, WKMZ News
IRELAND, W.Va. — Investigators now know how two of the victims in a Lewis County fire from March 11 died.
Preliminary findings from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Charleston indicated that one of the victims at the fire on Glady Creek Road, which claimed five victims, had been shot twice. Another victim died from smoke inhalation. The manner of death for the two other victims remains undetermined at this time.
The fifth victim, discovered the following day on March 12, died as a result of a gunshot wound. He was discovered on the ground some feet away from the fire scene. The victim was identified by Michael Lockard, a Walkersville native, as the biological father of Lockard’s stepson.
Lockard told MetroNews in the days after the fire that the length of time it took to find the fifth victim was a ‘disservice’ to the family. He also said he was unaware of any animosity that would have led to what occurred involving Luke Wilson, 45, of Walkersville and the five victims.
Police believe Wilson was the prime suspect in the fire at the home in the small community of Ireland. Wilson took his own life in eastern Kanawha County in the early morning hours following the fire as police were approaching his vehicle. Investigators said he went to see a family member in the hours between the fire and his death.
The Lewis County Sheriff’s Department is still seeking to interview two additional interviews to add to the “many” they have already interviewed. Investigators are asking for help getting in contact with the two men, identified as Jeremy “Tonus” Claypoole and David “Davey” Chipps.
Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to contact Cpl. J.D. Jenkins at the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office at (304) 269-8251 or by email at [email protected].