Former coal executive murdered while visiting wife's grave
Anthony Arriaga and Brandon Fitzpatrick pulled into Mountain View Memory Gardens Cemetery in West Virginia on Sunday, two young and unsuccessful drug dealers desperate for cash.
They spotted a parked GMC Denali, an SUV with various models that range in price from around $30,000 to $65,000.
Bennett Hatfield, the former CEO of Patriot Coal and the owner of the Denali, wasn't far away. He'd come to the cemetery a week ahead of Memorial Day to decorate the grave of his wife, Debbie, who died of cancer in 2009.
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Arriaga, 20, and Fitzpatrick, 18, reportedly unaware of Hatfield's status in the coal industry, allegedly figured he'd be a good person to rob after spotting his Denali. But nothing went as planned. The robbery turned into a shooting and Arriaga found himself in custody on Wednesday, where police said he confessed to murder days after fatally shooting Hatfield near the spot where his wife is buried.
Fitzpatrick took off in the getaway car after the shooting, without bothering to wait on his partner.
Seeing that, Arriaga fled to a nearby river. He stripped down to his underwear and reportedly ran along the water's edge, eventually knocking on the door of a man he'd never met. Arriaga told the man he'd fallen in the river, and paid the man $45 to drive him to a friend's house.
Arriaga allegedly told a friend in West Virginia about the shooting before fleeing to Ohio, where he has relatives.
Hatfield's body was discovered in the cemetery on Monday morning, hours after he was reported missing.
Law enforcement then caught wind of Arriaga after the man who drove him to his friend's house in West Virginia figured out what had happened and notified the police.
Police then talked with Arriaga's friend, 20-year-old Ricky Peterson, who said he didn't know anything about a murder and has since been charged with providing false information.
Officers caught up with Arriaga soon after, and he's since been charged with murder.
Fitzpatrick fled back to Kentucky, where law enforcement arrested him after he stopped at a gas station with Arriaga's mother.
Arriaga's mom allegedly called police at the gas station and told them Fitzpatrick had kidnapped her. Though it's unclear if that's true, police caught Fitzpatrick soon after, and found meth and heroin in the car.
He's also been arrested.
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Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.
