The man charged in the killing of 27-year-old Caitlin Walsh kept her body in his Main Street apartment for five days after he stabbed her multiple times, Lawrence County State?s Attorney John Fitzgerald said Thursday.
?I believe she died on Aug. 12, 2015,? Fitzgerald said, a day after an autopsy was performed on Walsh. Her body was discovered Aug. 17 in an apartment at 8 N. Galena St., in Lead. Law officers subsequently arrested James Lewis Rogers Jr., 44, on suspicion of first-degree murder.
Court documents divulged how the grisly discovery of the woman?s body came to pass this week. Just before 4:30 p.m. Monday, Lead Police Chief John Wainman was advised by a resident of a possible homicide at that address.
?According to Chief Wainman, the reporting party stated that the male subject who lives in apartment 303 had made the statement that he had killed his girlfriend,? said an affidavit of probable cause for a warrantless arrest filed with the Lawrence County Clerk of Courts Office. ?Once Chief Wainman and Lead Police Officer Jandt arrived at 8 N. Galena St., Apartment 303, they heard crying sounds coming from inside the apartment.?
As Chief Wainman was attempting to force open the door to the apartment, James Lewis Rogers Jr. opened the door, court documents stated.
?According to Chief Wainman he asked Rogers what he had done, to which Rogers replied, `Something really bad.??
Wainman then entered the apartment to search for anyone else who might be there.
?Chief Wainman stated once he entered the bedroom, he noticed a strong odor of decomposition along with what he believed to be dried blood on the floor,? the affidavit stated. After Walsh?s body was discovered, Rogers was detained, the apartment was secured and Rogers was taken to the Lawrence County Sheriff?s Office and later jailed.
State?s Attorney Fitzgerald said that next Wednesday, in a closed grand jury hearing, he would present evidence against Rogers, seeking an indictment on the first-degree murder charge. If convicted, Rogers could face either the death penalty or life in prison without parole, and no lesser sentence may be given, Fitzgerald said.
Citing ?ethical constraints on prosecuting attorneys,? Fitzgerald declined to characterize the relationship between Rogers and Walsh, and had no comment when asked if Rogers had had previous contact with law enforcement.
?If there is too much pretrial publicity and too many facts become public, there is a chance the defendant would ask that the trial be moved to a different venue, which would be an increased cost to taxpayers,? Fitzgerald said when asked to elaborate.
Rogers worked at Lynn?s Dakotamart in Lead, just a few blocks from his apartment, an employee who answered the phone at Lynn's acknowledged. Lynn?s Manager Chris Murray was on vacation and unavailable for comment Thursday, and the employee who answered the phone said she was unable to provide any insights about the man now jailed on suspicion of murder.
?We?ve already been given strict orders not to talk if anybody calls, so that?s the route I?m going to take,? the employee said before hanging up.
Property manager Dena Sheets, who rented Apartment 308 to Rogers, said he had lived there for more than two years. She said Rogers was a ?happy-go-lucky? tenant who loved to cook.
?I didn?t see this coming at all,? Sheets said.
The 5-foot-11, 215-pound Rogers has a Facebook account with photos showing a man with an affinity for knives. In one, he smilingly holds a large hunting knife to the neck of an unidentified man.
Meanwhile, a boyfriend of Walsh's said on Thursday that the young woman was battling drug addiction and likely ?hooked up with the wrong person in that town.?
?I had been seeing Caitlin for the last couple weeks,? Ty Shepherd said in a phone interview from Morgantown, W.Va., to which he recently moved. ?We became good friends, and she told me she was on drugs and had been for quite awhile. What kind of drugs I have no idea. Every day I told her, `You need to stay away from that,? and every day I told her, `Jesus loves you.??
Shepherd described Walsh as a thin, attractive brunette whom anyone would be happy to have as a friend.
?She was a very gentle, timid person,? Shepherd said.
As he prepared to move from Deadwood to West Virginia last week, Shepherd said he waited for Walsh to return to her apartment. But she never showed up.
?It wasn?t like her to not come home for two days,? he said, noting she had paid her rent the day before she disappeared. ?I knew something was wrong. I prayed for days and days. I knew something had happened last Friday night before I left town.
?I left her a note and a paper rose,? Shepherd added sadly. ?I feel so bad.?
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Originally Posted by bowieluva
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