Jennie Runevitch/Eyewitness News
Morgantown - Police arrested two teenage brothers for the knife attack on a 77-year-old woman and the murder of her 84-year-old husband. Investigators believe the boys attacked Richard and Mary Voland in their Brown County home in November. The woman survived and gave police a description of the attackers.
The teens lived down the road from the couple they're now charged with attacking. The 17-year-old, who was 16 at the time of the crime, is being held in the Brown County jail without bond. The even younger suspect, prosecutors say, will be charged in juvenile court.
He was quiet headed into court, but investigators say 17-year-old Bennie Reed admitted to attacking 84-year-old Richard Voland and his 77-year-old wife, Mary, in their rural Brown County home.
The crime paralyzed this community for nearly two months and sent gun permits soaring.
"The people of Brown County don't have to be afraid anymore because these people have been caught," said Jim Oliver, Brown County prosecutor.
Investigators say Reed painted a dark picture of the crime he says he committed with his younger brother. Court papers show the teens lived just down the street and rode their bikes to the Voland home that November night, toting a knife and a stolen gun, looking for alcohol.
They knocked on the door and asked to use the phone. Once inside, police say, Reed pulled a gun. That's when investigators say Richard Voland fired his gun and hit Reed in the arm. Reed fired back, shooting Voland in the head, killing him.
Police say Mary Voland was afraid the gun was still loaded. Court documents show Reed told her, "Let's find out," and shot her in the stomach. Investigators say Reed's brother also cut Mary across the neck with a knife. She survived the attack.
Reed admitted to police that after the crime, he rode his bike back home and went to bed. Then a few days later, he buried the murder weapon, shell casings and a sweatshirt in a creek near his house.
Investigators found a key piece of evidence at Reed's home: a washcloth that matched the style of the Volands'. It was stained with Reed's blood.
"The discovery of the washcloth really focused our case," said Oliver.
Investigators also discovered Reed's fingerprints in the Volands' home, noticed two scars on Reed's arm, which they say matched a gunshot wound, and the boys drew a map so police could find the murder weapon.
Prosecutors say they plan to use all of that evidence to put the teens behind bars. Bennie Reed faces 11 criminal counts and up to 105 years in prison. Prosecutors would not comment on the younger boy's charges.
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