SUMMERSVILLE, W.Va. — A Nicholas County man is now charged with murder in connection with a crime spree last week near Summersville that resulted in the death of a volunteer firefighter.
(WVRJA)
The additional charge has been filed against Dustin Dale Young, 24.
Nettie volunteer firefighter Brody Hanna died after Young slammed into his vehicle with a stolen vehicle on Oct. 15.
The murder charge came Tuesday on the same day Young was scheduled to appear for preliminary hearing in Nicholas County Magistrate Court. He waived the preliminary hearing. The charges will next be taken up by a grand jury.
Young remains charged with DUI causing death, attempted murder, burglary, two counts of grand larceny, assault during the commission of a felony, and fleeing with reckless disregard.
He’s now being held without bail in the Central Regional Jail.
State police have said Young’s crime spree began with a wreck on state Route 55.
State Police were dispatched to the scene, but before they arrived Young got out of his wrecked vehicle and stole a pickup truck from a Good Samaritan who had stopped to assist.
Troopers soon received another call of a wreck involving the stolen vehicle at 19 Carpenter Road in Craigsville. According to troopers, Young entered the home there and attacked the resident there, Katherine Greathouse, with a claw hammer. According to the criminal complaint, her injuries were severe. She remains hospitalized.
State Police allege the attack on Greathouse was pre-meditated because Young claims she had provided him with “bad dope.”
Before troopers arrived at the Greathouse residence, Young fled the scene in the stolen pickup truck again on Route 41 headed toward Summersville.
The criminal complaint indicated on the way he collided head-on with a vehicle. Hanna was the driver of the other vehicle. He was en-route to respond to one of the accidents in his personal vehicle.
After the crash, police said Young managed to steal a Summersville police cruiser and fled the scene again headed on Route 41 back toward Craigsville. Troopers got behind him and report he was all over the road and narrowly missed several head-on collisions . Troopers said his driving was very erratic and indicated he was severely impaired. The chase finally ended with a final crash on Route 55 at Timber Oaks Drive. Police deployed spike strips.
Troopers pulled Young from the wrecked vehicle and placed him in restraints.