Ernest Roach (left) speaks with his attorney, Barbara Brown, during a Tuesday morning hearing in Kanawha Circuit Court. Roach agreed not to fight extradition to Ohio, where he faces a murder charge in the killing of 16-year-old Ericka Brown of Cross Lanes.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A man accused of killing a Cross Lanes teenager he met on the Internet will face trial in his home state of Ohio.
Ernest Michael Roach, 36, of Racine, Ohio, waived extradition back to Ohio during a brief hearing Tuesday in Kanawha County Circuit Court.
Roach faces murder charges in Ohio on allegations he killed Ericka Brown, 16, of Cross Lanes after meeting the teenager on the Internet. The body of the Nitro High School sophomore was found wrapped in plastic on the banks of the Ohio River at Portland in Meigs County, Ohio, late last month.
Ericka Brown was first reported missing on Aug. 10. According to federal officials, who are pursuing charges against Roach for allegedly crossing state lines to engage in illicit sexual contact, the teenager had posted at least one advertisement on craigslist.org seeking men because she wanted money.
According to a federal criminal complaint, Brown posted a message around Aug. 3 saying, “I’m looking for $$,” and would “do anything for it.”
Roach was interviewed by Kanawha County Sheriff’s deputies on Aug. 27 after deputies found his cell phone number on Brown’s telephone. Roach claimed to have no knowledge of the girl and agreed to come back the next day to take a polygraph, but instead fled the area.
Roach was arrested by troopers with the Ohio State Police in Washington County, Ohio on Aug. 30. Brown’s body, wrapped in plastic, bound by a ratchet strap and attached to a concrete block, was found as he was being questioned…
