Following a 12-hour manhunt, the body of West Virginia shooter Jody Lee Hunt was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a pickup truck in the woods. Hunt, the owner of a towing company, shot and killed four people in a rampage Monday: his ex-girlfriend, two men she had allegedly been involved with, and the proprietor of a competing towing business.
The Associated Press reports Hunt, 39, first shot and killed Doug Brady, the owner of Doug’s Towing, whom Hunt claimed was illegally obtaining towing jobs. Monongalia County commissioner Tom Bloom told the AP that Hunt then went to a home and killed his ex-girlfriend Sharon Kay Berkshire, 39, and Michael David Frum, 28. Hunt then apparently travelled to a third location and shot and killed Jody Taylor.
Police claim Hunt was upset over Berkshire’s alleged affairs, supposedly posting to his Facebook the day of the shooting, “I did not chose to have the love of my life to go behind my back and sleep with several guys as she came home to lay her head on my shoulder to say goodnight I love you.”
According to WBOY, Hunt posted another status update to his Facebook Monday evening after the shootings:
I hope that everyone takes the words I love you seriously. Be honest with the one you are with. No need for a game. You either want them or u don’t. Just tell them no need to lead there heart on. I’m so sorry for my actions today and the lives I’ve effected. I’m so tired of the wrong doers getting by with all of it. No need for games. Life is short. Love the one you are with
WDTV reports that Hunt had a criminal history: He was found guilty of kidnapping and abduction in Virginia in 1999 and was sentenced to five years in prison in 2001 after being found guilty of wanton endangerment with a firearm. Berkshire had filed two restraining orders against Hunt.
December 9, 2014 5:34 AM
