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McDowell County native charged in ’03 slaying

Photo contributed to Bluefield Daily Telegraph  Charles Melvin Spencer
Photo contributed to Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Charles Melvin Spencer

VERONA, Va. — A McDowell County native has been arrested in Augusta County, Va., and charged with first-degree murder in the 2003 death of his wife.

Charles Melvin Spencer of Crimora, formerly of Pageton, was arrested Monday evening, according to Augusta County Sheriff Donald L. Smith.

Spencer’s wife, Jo Ann, was originally reported missing to the Augusta County Sheriff’s Department by her family on Dec. 11, 2003. Her body was found on Jan. 23, 2004, off a road near Pageton in McDowell County. She had been shot multiple times.

“The investigation quickly centered on Jo Ann’s husband, Charles Melvin Spencer,” Smith stated in a press release. “However, the case went cold.”

Smith said new information obtained over the past few weeks provided enough probable cause to charge Spencer with murder.

Five years after Jo Ann Spencer’s death, Melvin Spencer’s girlfriend, Margaret Gail Stamper-White, was reported missing…

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