KAYLEE & DAKOTA HENDRIX - 4, 6 yo - Nicholas Co. WV

Murder suspect had drug problem

May 29, 2012 @ 11:25 PM
JOHN RABY, The Associated Press

CHARLESTON -- A West Virginia man suspected of killing two adults and two young children, removing their clothing and tossing the bodies down a mountainside owed a drug debt to one of the victims and had been sentenced to prison five years ago in another drug dispute, court documents show.

James Roy Belknap was arrested at a police roadblock in Nicholas County on Monday following a three-day search. The bodies of Steven Hendrix, his girlfriend Amber Martin and two children, ages 4 and 6, were found less than a mile from Belknap's residence on Saturday, a day after Hendrix's missing 2003 Chevy Venture van was found, State Police said.

A relative had reported the victims missing on May 19. Greenbrier County Prosecutor Patrick Via said both Hendrix and Martin missed separate court hearings May 22 in Greenbrier County Circuit Court. Hendrix's hearing was on a previous drug indictment and Martin's hearing was in an unrelated case.

State Police Sgt. D.A. Evans said an investigation indicated Belknap owed Hendrix money for drugs "and they had been fighting about the payment."

Evans said it's believed that Hendrix went with the others to Belknap's property to collect a drug debt. The victims appeared to have been shot to death, were stripped naked and their bodies dumped.

Belknap, 26, was held without bond in the Central Regional Jail on four counts of first-degree murder. Court records show he has requested a public defender. A woman who answered the phone at the Nicholas County public defender's office in Summersville said she couldn't give out any information.

On Monday, Belknap went to the home of Mark Haynes, asked to use the telephone, then asked Haynes for a ride, which ended at the police roadblock. A criminal complaint says Haynes, 53, ignored officers' commands to exit his vehicle. He was charged with obstructing an officer and accessory after the fact to murder.

Both Haynes and Belknap are from the Leivasy area in Nicholas County, although a State Police spokesman, Sgt. Michael Baylous, was unsure how they knew each other.

Hayes was being held at the jail on $76,000 bond. Jail records didn't indicate whether he had an attorney.

In 2006, Belknap's father, Kenneth Belknap, was sentenced in Nicholas County to life in prison with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder. James Belknap pleaded guilty to a drug conspiracy charge in the same case, and prosecutors dismissed a murder indictment against the son, according to court records.

An account of court testimony in The Register-Herald indicated the victim, Richard Parnell, was shot in a dispute over a cocaine deal and his body was then set on fire. Kenneth Belknap said his son had no involvement in Parnell's killing.

The state Division of Corrections says James Belknap was released from prison in 2009.

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/briefs/x1190167955/Murder-suspect-had-drug-problem

Felony Charges for Girlfriend of Man Suspected in Brutal Murder

June 28, 2012 10:02 AM
By Nastacia Leshchinskaya

Carrie Nelson, 31, of Pocahonas County, W.V., was arrested Monday and charged with four felony counts of accessory after the fact in connection with a quadruple homicide alleged to have been committed by her boyfriend, James Roy Belknap.

On May 28, police arrested Belknap, 26, on suspicion of killing four people, two of them children. The naked bodies of Steven Hendrix, 38, his girlfriend Amber Martin, 23, and their two young children, Dakota, 6, and Kaylee, 4, were found in a wooded area two days prior. They had been missing since May 19. West Virginia State Police Sgt. Michael Baylous called the crime scene “gruesome,” and said it was one of the worst crime scenes his investigators had ever worked on. According to authorities, the killing was motivated by drug money. While Hendrix and family were missing, detectives learned that Belknap owed Hendrix some drug money. When Hendrix went to Belknap’s Leivasy home to collect the debt, Belknap allegedly shot all all four members of the family then dumped their bodies near his property.

After the bodies were discovered, police set up road blocks around Belknap’s property. They finally got their suspect after a truck, driven by a man named Mark Haynes, tried to get past police with Belknap as the passenger. Haynes was charged with accessory to murder after the fact and obstruction. Haynes told police that Belknap came to his house and asked him for a ride.

In 2005, Belknap was charged with murder after his father killed a man over drugs and burned his body. Kenneth Belknap, now serving life in prison, denied his son’s involvement in the crime. In exchange for the murder charge being dropped, James Belknap pleaded guilty to delivery of cocaine in 2007 and served a year in prison.

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/blog/2012/06/28/felony-charges-for-girlfriend-of-man-suspected-in-brutal-murder/index.html

So...why did Belknap kill them? The man owed him drugs?

it appears that belknap owed the children's father about $500 for drugs.

The kids should have been taken away from them if they were indeed dealing drugs. We should have NO tolerance for this.

Use drugs, sell drugs, buy drugs, NO kids. Period. Any prior drug or violence convictions, NO kids.

My heart cries for the two lost little angels. RIP.

William

i agree with u william 1000%!!!

Me too.

William you are a welcome addition to our forum.