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Noble County Man Indicted In Death Of Albany Man
By: Felicia Tackett | Jackson County Times-Journal
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A Caldwell man has been charged in the killing of an Albany man who was found dead in a truck after a November crash.
Lewis Vance, 37, was indicted on Monday by a Jackson County grand jury. He was charged with one count of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of felonious assault, one count of attempted rape, two counts of abduction and one count of tampering with evidence. All the charges are felony offenses.
The investigation that led to the charges began with a two-vehicle crash Nov. 29 near Diggs Road in Jackson County's Coal Twp. A man, later identified by law enforcement as Vance, confronted the driver of the second vehicle before fleeing the scene, according to previous reporting by the Jackson Times-Journal.
After Vance fled, a body was discovered in the bed of the truck Vance had allegedly been driving. It was later confirmed that the truck belonged to Patrick Morgan, 48, of Albany. The body found in the truck was then identified as Morgan.
The Franklin County coroner said Morgan had been stabbed multiple times in the head and neck area, and authorities said it appeared he had attempted to fight off his attacker.
The Jackson County Sheriff's Office apprehended Vance near Diggs Road. At about the same time as the crash, the Wellston Police Department was called to a residence on South New York Avenue and it was "determined that a serious crime had occurred there," Jackson County Sheriff Tedd Frazier said in a previous Times-Journal article.
The crash and the alleged crime at the Wellston residence were linked by Vance when he was apprehended, Frazier said.