| West Virginia State Police said three suspects have been arrested after the fatal shooting of a man in Mason County that court records said occurred during a planned drug transaction.
Giles Lee Hysell Jr., 41, of Leon, Franklin Montgomery Long, 21 of Leon and Samantha R. Young, 29, of Hometown were arrested in connection to the murder of Mitchell Clay Smith, 36, of Leon, according to a news release Friday from West Virginia State Police.
State Police said Hysell is charged with murder, and Long and Young are charged with accessory to murder. Young is also charged with conspiracy from an April 11 incident.
State Police said they found Smiths body inside a home Tuesday in the 5000 block of Destiny Road in Leon in Mason County. He had died of an apparent gunshot wound to the head.
Court records said Smith, Long and Young had traveled to the residence to facilitate a drug transaction with Hysell. Hysell had hidden in an upstairs area of the home with a firearm and shot Smith when he entered the residence, according to a criminal complaint filed in Mason County Magistrate Court.
State Police said during their investigation, they determined that the victim had left his residence on April 27 and had been reported missing to the Mason County Sheriffs Office on the same date. The victim's vehicle was unaccounted for at the onset of this investigation but was recovered from a creek near Red House in Putnam County.
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