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GIVINGFROM PAGE A-lturned, though, cadaver dogs were set loose on the scene.And six different canines, working separately, each yelped and wagged their tales furiously during their lone work where Kief and crew would soon begin digging.The man who finally persuaded State Police to take another look was standing next to the forensic investigator this afternoon.Albert Rod” Everly a Morgantown businessman, contractor and former teacher, was in that National Guard unit and was supervising a search team when the discovery was made.He was second on the scene, in fact.A former guardsman never forgot what he saw, he said Wednesday. The case has always stayed with him.The dogs only reaffirmed a tale already told, he said.Everly calls it, the “overlooked confession,” in a case that didn’t take long to become part ofMorgantown lore.A recent book and podcast has reawakened interest in the case for many, including Everly.He started doing some of his own research, and contracted the dog teams himself. That’s how State Police became involved.The lore of the case is populated with anonymous letters, chilling implications of a murderous cult — the Charles Manson-led slashing murders of Hollywood actress Sharon Tate and others had only happened the year before.Don’t forget a dubious confession that only added to the mystery.There’s that, and the sad, grisly aside that the heads of the victims have yet to he found.Everly, as said, has chosen to dig into those letters — with their quadrants, coordinates and geometric, mathematical intricacies.Back during his days as an instructor of drafting and mechanical drawing at the Monongalia County Technical Education Center, Everly’s students often received state andnational accolades forth eir a chie vements.Their teacher did, too.“It’s about coming up against a challenge, then looking at every way, and any way you can to find a solution,” he said.He was bolstered by those cadaver dogs, he said, because where they went was where the author of the letters said they should go.The person who killed the coeds wrote the letters, he said.“It’s all right there,” he said. “It’s just gonna he a relief if something is finally unearthed after all these years.”Telling it for the agesUsing garden trowels and working painstakingly by hand, the forensic team is finally digging down to the level of what Everly thinks is the original grade of the earth in 1970, before all the other work was done.Wednesday, theythought they had a break, in the form of sunken areas of dirt. No answers, though, once the soil was scraped away.Besides — the final evidence, according to theauthor of those long-ago letters, could still be about a foot below that.Which means digging.And more digging.Kief echoed Everly on Wednesday as he talked about the potentials and possibilities of the re-vis-ited case.“Well, it would mean everything in the world if the remains are located,” he said. “I’ve talked about closure before, and that’s what this would he.”Fifty years is a long time, he said.Two sets of parents, sand-blasted by grief, spent their remaining days coexisting with a void that was blacker than black.“We have no way of knowing what fully happened,” the investigator said.He meant Ferrell and Malarik’s last moments alive.Were both shot in the head? If there was just one murderer, why didn’t one of them try to run?“Finding that evidence would let them tell their story.”TWEET @DominionPostWV
Newspaper Details
Morgantown Dominion Post
Morgantown, West Virginia, US
Thu, Jun 02, 2022
Page 2
Full Page
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USA 20 Oct 2022
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