Police need your help finding a man from Illinois said to “have violent tendencies.” William George Simmons, 31, was last seen in the Louisa area of eastern Kentucky. Louisa Police said Wednesday that Simmons is wanted in Illinois. Simmons is described as 5 feet 8 with brown eyes and black hair. He weighs about 210 pounds. Police say he has multiple facial tattoos. Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call their local 911 agency.
Two people were arrested Wednesday afternoon in connection to the deaths of 18-year-old Anthony Stidham and 20-year-old Braxton Marlowe. Treston Combs, 20, of Bulan, and Emmaleigh Collins, 19, of Jeff, are the suspects in the case. Combs reportedly fired multiple shots at people during a fight on Polly Hollow Road. His girlfriend, Emmaleigh Collins reportedly then drove Combs with her car to her home. According to the citation, troopers discovered Combs and Collins’s location after police talked to witnesses. Troopers searched Collins’s home, the gun they believe was used to kill Stidham, and Marlow and critically wound a 20-year guy was found inside her bedroom clothing drawer. Combs is being charged with murder, attempted murder and wanton endangerment. Collins is being charged with murder (complicity). The two were taken to the Kentucky River Regional Jail, and no arraignment date has been set last we heard.
A Letcher County man appeared in court on Wednesday for an arraignment after he was charged with assaulting an officer and terroristic threatening. Ethan Brown, 20, of Whitesburg, was charged after an incident at the Letcher County Jail on July 1. Brown reportedly threatened to beat up an officer as he was asked to return to his jail cell. While in court, the inmate asked if he could have his bond reduced so he can attend a treatment facility. He said he wants to get back to family. Brown also said he still shooting up and stuff. It is the battle of my life.
A Pike County woman has been arrested for stabbing her mother. Kentucky State Police received a call from a nurse in the Pikeville Medical Center emergency room, after a woman came in with a stab wound. When a state trooper interviewed the woman, she said her daughter and brother were fighting and she tried to get between them, when her daughter stabbed her. Police then went to speak to the daughter, identified as Mary Melissa Ratliff, 41, of Haynes Village. Ratliff reportedly admitted to stabbing her mother, but said it was an accident. She was arrested and charged with first-degree assault; a felony punishable by 10-to-20 years in prison. She has since been released from jail on an unsecured bond.
A Mingo County man has been indicted in federal court on child exploitation charges. Terry Randall Hinkle, 55, of Delbarton, was charged Tuesday with one count of sexual exploitation of children and single counts of receiving, possessing and distributing child pornography. The charges all stem from last August and September, when Hinkle is accused of coercing a child to take part in sexual conduct which he then recorded. Hinkle has been held in the Southwestern Regional Jail at Holden since February, when he was arrested on a state charge involving the same allegations. He is currently charged with distributing child porn in state court. That case notes that the he is accused of distributing more than 600 images. Hinkle is currently being held on a $40,000 bond in the state case. No hearings have yet been set in the federal case.
A Martin County man who pleaded guilty last week to unlawfully imprisoning his wife in a camper in May 2023 has been ordered to pay half the funeral costs for his late wife, who died a month after the incident inside the same camper. According to court records dated July 2, Justin Marcum, 37, pleaded guilty to second-degree unlawful imprisonment. He received a 12-month sentence, but Martin District Judge John T. Chafin placed him on two years’ probation, requiring him to complete drug court and pay half the funeral costs of his wife, Christina Salyers Marcum. Chief Deputy Chris Kidd of the Martin County Sheriff’s Office arrested Marcum on May 31, 2023. Kidd went to a residence on Fitch Branch Road in Inez for a welfare check and found 40-year-old Christina Salyers Marcum trapped inside a camper. The camper had padlocks on both exit doors, and its windows were covered with wood and metal. Christina Marcum, who had no phone or means to communicate with the outside world, told police her husband imprisoned her due to his “extreme jealousy.” Marcum appeared in court June 5, 2023, and pleaded not guilty to the charge. His bond was amended, and he was ordered to have “no unlawful contact” with his wife and to complete outpatient drug treatment through Addiction Recovery Care.
