Community Seeks Justice For Kane
By: Curtis Feder
Posted on:
POMEROY, Ohio (WOUB) – On Easter morning Mason, WV and Pomeroy, OH suffered a great loss. Former Wahama High School football star Kane Roush, 25, died following numerous gunshot wounds.
Local law enforcement reported that Roush was shot multiple times, crawled to his neighbors house for help and then communicated with Meigs County deputies when they arrived on scene.
Roush made his name as a running back for the Wahama White Falcons, leading them to an undefeated season in 2012 – winning their only West Virginia state title.
He won Gridiron Glory Player of the Year in 2013, beating future Heisman trophy winner and number one overall pick of the NFL draft Joe Burrow for that award. He left his mark on the field, finishing as Wahama’s all-time leading rusher.
After playing college football for the University of Charleston, he graduated and then joined his dad as a construction worker. Throughout the community, people expressed a positive impression of Roush’s character.
At the time, Meigs County Sheriff Keith Wood said that the case of Roush’s homicide would be top priority. Shortly after his death, friends and family of Kane Roush created a Facebook page called “Justice for Kane.”
This Facebook page was originally meant to be a platform to show pictures and videos of Kane to honor him and serve as a memorial page, but it soon blossomed well beyond that, amassing over 2,000 followers.
Members of the group became active proponents of Kane’s cause, creating signs, banners and t-shirts promoting the efforts to find Roush’s killer. They also gave stickers to sell to local liquor store, American Spirit. When asked about the stickers, the clerk said that they sell out soon after the new batch arrives.
In addition, due to donations from the local community, the Kane Roush Scholarship fund was created, with its first two winners announced in late June. It is the plan for this scholarship to become an annual award.
The investigation into Roush’s homicide took three and a half months, involving ten law enforcement agencies, including the West Virginia State Police and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
On June 17, the Meigs County Grand Jury made an official indictment, charging Jaquan Hall, 21, with four counts relating to Roush’s death. Hall was charged with aggravated murder, an unclassified felony, murder, another unclassified felony, complicity, an unclassified murder, and conspiracy, a first-degree felony.
Punishment for these crimes could result in life in prison or even the death penalty. The charges for complicity and conspiracy also indicate that a second individual was involved in the killing as well.
Hall was making videos on social media and YouTube just days before the indictment came out advocating for his company, BNT Music. After the indictment, he and his mother went on the run and remained at large for three weeks.
On the night of July 6, the U.S. Marshal Service and Charleston Police captured and arrested Hall. He is currently being held in the South Central Regional Jail in West Virginia.
In a pretrial hearing Monday, he agreed to be transported to Ohio to face trial, leaving Meigs County 10 days to retrieve Hall to try him for his charges.
What the prosecution team will pursue in terms of punishment and when Jaquan Hall’s trial will be held has yet to be revealed at this time.