A West Virginia family is grieving after one of their own was found dead inside a camper in Franklin County last Monday. On Wednesday, two days following the discovery, we learned the suspicious death is now a homicide investigation, and police are considering murder charges.
Warrants filed in connection with a missing West Virginia man found dead in Franklin County shed light on what may have happened prior to his death.
Sometime before Monday, a woman and her boyfriend were with 58-year-old William Kirk Odell, known as Marty, inside a camper in the 6000 block of Bethlehem Road in Boones Mill, according to the warrant. The woman told authorities that she watched her boyfriend choke and kill Odell and then they left in Odell’s white Dodge Durango.
She also admitted that after a few days of having the car, she sold the vehicle to someone in Roanoke, according to the warrant. The Durango was found later on Monday and has since been taken to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office impound lot.
O’Dell’s son, Justin O’Dell, said his family is reeling from the loss.
“It’s been pretty tough. He’s got a lot of family that’s devastated,” O’Dell said. “It wasn’t very uncommon for him to go missing for three or four days, well two or three days, at the most but he would always contact at least my Grandmother to check on her.”
O’Dell said on Monday he received an anonymous call from a man who said a woman was trying to sell him his dad’s white Dodge Durango. The name in the warrant matches the name the anonymous caller provided. The call set off a chain of events that led to the landlord to the discovery.
“In one way this man from the bottom of my heart has really brought me a lot of peace and closure and in another way, it was devastating, it was a call that no son, or mother, father would ever want to receive,” O’Dell said.
The woman and her boyfriend are currently being held on unrelated charges and while suspects, have not yet been charged in the homicide.
“It was a senseless act that had no personal gain in it whatsoever. Nothing that can be done is going to bring him back or make things right,” O’Dell said of his father’s death.
Now family are planning a funeral and trying to make sense of it all, left heartbroken over a senseless crime.
“Hopefully my family, my father, will get justice and they will be held accountable for their actions,” O’Dell said.
UPDATE (6:16 p.m. Wednesday)
BOONES MILL, Va. - Warrants filed in connection with a missing West Virginia man found dead in Franklin County shed light on what may have happened prior to his death.
Sometime before Monday, a woman and her boyfriend were with 58-year-old William Kirk Odell inside a camper in the 6000 block of Bethlehem Road in Boones Mill, according to the warrant.
The woman told authorities that she watched her boyfriend choke and kill Odell and then they left in Odell’s white Dodge Durango.
She also admitted that after a few days of having the car, she sold the vehicle to someone in Roanoke, according to the warrant.
The Durango was found later on Monday and has since been taken to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office impound lot.
Odell’s son learned about what happened because, according to the warrants, on Monday, a man called him and told him the following:
- A woman tried to sell the caller William Kirk Odell’s Durango
- She told the caller that her boyfriend choked and killed Odell in the camper
- She also told the caller that the two then left the camper in the Durango
The woman and her boyfriend are currently in custody on unrelated charges.
10 News is not naming the woman or her boyfriend, or the man who bought the stolen car at this time as none of them are charged in connection with the death of Odell.
ORIGINAL STORY
The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office is launching a death investigation after finding a missing West Virginia man dead in his home Monday afternoon.
At about 1:15 p.m., the Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call from a landlord reporting his tenant was dead in his home.
Deputies reported to the 6000 block of Bethlehem Road in Boones Mill and confirmed they found that the man was dead on arrival.
The victim was identified as 58-year-old William Kirk Odell, who had been reported missing in West Virginia by a family member, according to authorities.
Prior to his death, it was reported that he was last seen on March 16 in Boones Mill.
Authorities said circumstances around his death are considered suspicious, but there is no threat to the community.
The investigation remains ongoing.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office at 540-483-3000.