MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Police on Tuesday arrested a seventh person in a case that involves three slayings and two states.
Members of the U.S. Marshals Mountain State Fugitive Task Force and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office arrested Norman Bradford, 49, of Falling Waters, W.Va.
Bradford is suspected of conspiring with others in killing Danielle Tyler and Heather Grogg to cover up an earlier slaying, according to a news release from the task force.
The women's bodies have not been found, Jefferson County Sheriff Pete Dougherty said Tuesday. He declined to discuss further details about the probe.
"We're still investigating," the sheriff said.
Dougherty said Bradford was arrested "without incident" on property on Valmont Lane in Harpers Ferry. Bradford had been staying in a motor home there, the sheriff said.
Court documents in Bradford's case were not available Tuesday. Court offices were closed because Tuesday was primary election day in the Mountain State.
Bradford's arrest stems from the killing of Jonathan Riddle, 33, of Taneytown, Md.
Riddle had been assaulted and kidnapped from Carroll County, Md., then killed in West Virginia, authorities said. His badly burned body was found March 18 off a road near Rippon, W.Va., a community south of Charles Town.
Riddle died as a result of stab wounds and blunt-force trauma to the head, according to court records.
According to Tuesday's release, the two slain women apparently knew about Riddle's homicide and were killed in a cover-up attempt.
"These murders were heinous crimes, and the individuals who committed these violent acts showed a blatant disregard for the sanctity of human life,” J.C. Reffety, U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of West Virginia, said in the news release. “I am particularly proud of the part the U.S. Marshals play in providing assistance to our local partners to locate and apprehend their most violent fugitives. This community is safer because of it.”
According to court records, the crimes started on March 17, when Riddle went to the residence of David Ray Sanford Jr. in Westminster, Md., to meet with Grogg.
Sanford and Monroe Merrell, also of Westminster, were involved in an altercation at Sanford's apartment that led to the kidnapping and slaying of Riddle, the records state.
Merrell, Sanford and John Black of Taneytown face prosecution on murder and kidnapping charges in Riddle's death, according to police and court records.
Tyler, 18, of Taneytown, and Grogg, 33, of Westminster, were reported missing in April. They were last seen in Carroll County on April 6, authorities said.
According to Tuesday's news release from the marshals service, the sheriff’s department determined that on April 6, Sanford, Jeff Smith and Emily Rose Day, both of Westminster, brought Tyler and Grogg to the residence of April Braner in Falling Waters, W.Va.
On April 7, Merrell, Smith and Bradford left the residence with Grogg, the release states. The three are accused of taking her to another location, where she was shot and killed, the release states.
The sheriff's office asked the U.S. Marshals Service to arrest Bradford, who is known by the alias “Six Three” in the Pagans Motorcycle Club, according to the release.
According to court records, police also allege that Braner gave a plastic bag to Sanford, who used it to suffocate Tyler in a "party trailer" across the street from Braner's house.
Smith and Braner have been charged with murder and conspiracy in connection with the deaths of Tyler and Grogg, according to court records.
Day faces prosecution as an accessory in the case, according to previous reports.
