by
FRED PACE, EDITOR
Coal Valley News
PEYTONA – Human remains have been found in a trailer at Peytona, according to the Boone County’s Sheriff’s Department.
Investigators were called to the trailer, located just off state Route 3 at about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday night.
Boone County Sheriff Rodney Miller says the decomposing body of 71-year-old Jimmie Cooper was found late Wednesday night inside the trailer.
The man had been missing for about a week, the sheriff said.
Cooper was first discovered when co-workers were concerned because they had not seen the victim for several days and failed to report to his job. When checking on Cooper, they found the door to his residence partially open and notifed the Sheriff's Office, who checked the home and discovered the victim's body.
The home did show signs of a forced entry and the man’s car was missing. The vehicle has since been recovered in Putnam County, investigators said.
Investigators said they are not sure at this time how the man died, and his body has been sent to the state medical examiner’s office in Charleston for an autopsy and to try to determine a cause of death.
The Boone County Sheriff's Office has filed warrants and charged a woman in connection Cooper’s death.
Investigators believe that Cooper was killed by a single gunshot wound to the head as he lay in his bed at home, according to Sheriff Miller.
Charged is 20-year-old Maura Shea Perry, who's address is listed as Hamlin in Lincoln County. She is charged with the felony charge of first degree murder, which carries a penalty of life in prison, Miller said.
Investigators believe Perry had an ongoing relationship with the victim and stole property after the murder, which she pawned to facilitate her drug usage.
Deputies recovered Cooper's car at a park and ride at Scott Depot, in Putnam County on Thursday, where it had been abandonded. Several items have been recovered from pawn shops in the Kanawha Valley area that belonged to the victim.
Perry has been transported to the Southwestern Regional Jail awaiting arraignment before a Boone County Magistrate. No further information is available regarding court appearances.
However, on Perry’s public Facebook wall she posted about being in jail, allegedly on simple possession and driving on a suspended license charges out of Kanawha County.
She also later posted that she “got a new man” on Sept. 24, which would have been after the time police believe Cooper was killed.
She has also posted on Sept. 20 that she was looking for a job.
Since that time, many of Perry’s friends have posted on her wall their disbelief and disappointment after hearing about her alleged role in Cooper’s death.
“I never in a million years thought that I would be seeing you on tv facing murder,” one post said.