Pa. landfill searched for remains of missing W.Va. man; two charged in his death

GREENCASTLE, Pa. — Multiple law enforcement agencies and support personnel searched an Antrim Township landfill Thursday for the remains of a West Virginia man reported missing May 30, authorities said.

Two people have been charged in the death of James Michael "Jimmy" Kerns of Ranson.

Investigators found nothing related to the case at the Waste Management Mountain View Reclamation landfill as of Wednesday, according to West Virginia State Police Sgt. J.S. Chumley. He didn't know if the search turned up anything Thursday as the work continued into the afternoon.

No further details of the search operation were available from authorities Thursday afternoon.

Charles Wilbert Cook Jr., 40, of Kearneysville, W.Va., is charged with second-degree murder and Amanda Lynn Frey, 41, of Hagerstown, is charged with concealment of a deceased human body in Kerns' death, police said earlier.

Both were being held in the Eastern Regional Jail on Thursday. Cook was being held on $500,000 bail and Frey was being held on $50,000 bail, according to the jail's website.

They were bound over for further court action following preliminary hearings held earlier. No trial dates had been set as of Thursday, Jefferson County (W.Va.) Prosecuting Attorney Matthew Harvey said.

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A search warrant approved Saturday by Franklin County Magisterial District Judge Jody C. Eyer said the investigation into Kerns' death by West Virginia State Police developed information that his body was in the landfill.

Police responded June 8 to the Motel 6 on Jefferson Terrace Road in Charles Town, W.Va., after an anonymous caller reported "a horrible smell" coming from room 120 and a dumpster on the premises. Police found a mattress with a stain that turned out to be blood and "the distinct odor of body decay" coming from the room, the mattress and the dumpster, the warrant said.

Police learned that Cook and Frey had paid for the room and that Kerns, a known associate of Cook's, was known to visit there. Cook told police he last saw Kerns on May 22 when he asked him to leave the room, the warrant said.

Frey told investigators that Cook had stabbed Kerns in the stomach during an altercation and that his body was in the room for five days covered with a sheet. She said that when motel employees and tenants complained about the smell, Cook on May 28 put Kerns' body in a trash can, rolled it across the parking lot and dumped Kerns' body in the dumpster, according to the warrant.

Frey said that Cook left the room with Kerns' backpack and returned without it. During a search in the area of the motel, a backpack containing items belonging to Kerns was found in a wooded area, the warrant said.

The investigation revealed the contents of the dumpster were taken to the landfill on June 1, the warrant said.