According to Mingo County Sheriffs in West Virginia, Arriaga allegedly shot former International Coal Group and Patriot Coal CEO Ben Hatfield who was visiting his wife’s grave in a West Virginia cemetery around noon Sunday.
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Maynard said the random shooting led authorities to believe that Arriaga had no connection to Hatfield.
While Peterson is in a West Virginia jail, it could be a couple of days until Arriaga is extradited to the Mountain State, Sheriff Smith said.
Arriaga’s aunt, Yolanda Arriaga-Traylor of Gibsonburg, Ohio, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the family is trying to make sense of the charge against her nephew. Arriaga shed his wet clothes along the river bank and according to State Police went to a nearby home where he caught a ride to the Rite-Aid in Wayne.
Ricky Peterson has also been arrested and charged with accessory after the fact.
An Ohio man fatally shot a former coal company executive at a cemetery where the businessman’s wife is buried and has been arrested on a first-degree murder warrant, a sheriff said Tuesday.
A third person has been charged in the death of former coal executive Bennett Hatfield.
Anthony Arriaga, 20, of Delphos, Ohio, was arraigned on a first-degree murder charge Thursday in Mingo County Circuit Court. He was arrested on unrelated drug charges after he was pulled over in Elsmere, Kentucky Wednesday.
Mr. Hatfield resigned in 2015 as president and CEO of Patriot Coal, a month before the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time. Authorities said they were able to track down Arriaga after a man called State Police and said he was approached by a man near the cemetery who was clad only in his underwear.
Arriaga waived his right to an extradition hearing Tuesday.
Sheriff Smith said authorities had been stumped until the neighbor stepped forward to report the suspect. Records don’t indicate whether he has an attorney.
Hatfield was named last June to the board of coal producer Foresight Energy, based in St. Louis. He also held a management position at Arch Coal and Massey Energy as well as being a member of the West Virginia Coal Association board.
Hatfield was found dead early Monday in a Mingo County cemetery.
Sheriff Smith says Hatfield ran for cover over the riverbank.
Arriaga lived with her parents and with her part of the time while he was growing up, played sports in high school and has been working in construction, she said. Then, Peterson changed his story and told troopers he took Arriaga to his home in OH and could give them more details about the murder.
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