Kanawha Sheriff’s deputies found a body believed to be Eva Woods in an outbuilding behind her house in St. Albans.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A woman’s body was found in an outbuilding behind her house Monday near St. Albans, and authorities are charging her daughter with the murder.
Kanawha deputies arrested Jessica Lee Woods, 36, of West Main Street Monday morning at the Days Inn hotel in Kanawha City for the death of her mother, Eva Linda Woods, 59.
Jessica Woods held her head down, her unkempt, blond hair obscuring her face, and sniffled as she waited for arraignment Monday afternoon in Kanawha Magistrate Court. At one point, she looked up, a dazed expression on her face.
Eva Woods was reported missing over the weekend, and according to a friend of Jessica’s, the younger woman “wasn’t even looking and wasn’t interested” when they walked the area looking for signs of her, a complaint filed in Kanawha Magistrate Court said.
Everette Dixon told deputies Saturday he hadn’t seen his daughter, Eva, since Feb. 9 and hadn’t spoken to her since Feb. 13. He said he went to Eva’s home at 336 West Main St. and knocked on the door but received no answer.
Dixon said Jessica was at Eva’s house, though Eva told him Jessica was not to be at her home at any time, according to a criminal complaint filed in Kanawha Magistrate Court.
Jessica Woods told Detective Sean Snuffer in an interview that she last saw her mother Friday afternoon and that she appeared to be going somewhere. Jessica’s teen daughter initially told detectives she saw Eva walking toward St. Albans, but surveillance videos culled from the area showed no signs of her.
The teen’s father asked the girl and her 5-year-old sister when they’d last seen Eva. The teen responded that she saw her grandmother when she was getting off the school bus, which is what “mommy told us to say,” the younger girl told police, the complaint said.
The teen later told detectives she hadn’t seen her grandmother since before Feb. 14.
Snuffer and Detective Adam Crawford went to Eva Woods’ home Saturday to investigate after someone was reportedly removing items from the house. They found Jessica packing items and setting them on the porch, the complaint said. She told deputies again that she didn’t know where her mother was.
Jessica Woods has had more than one run-in with the law…