Associated Press
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - The task force investigating three deadly sniper shootings at Charleston-area convenience stores asked the public Tuesday to watch for people who have shown an intense interest in the probe, taken a sudden vacation or altered their appearance.
A list of such behavioral changes was attached to a previously released composite sketch of a heavyset white man with a goatee seen near the last two shootings.
“Hopefully it might stir their memory that they might remember seeing someone that had some of these traits right after the shooting,” said Police Chief Jerry Pauley. “It’s just some things to look for that may occur like one or two days after the shootings.”
Jeanie Patton, 31, and Okey Meadows Jr., 26, were killed Aug. 14 about 90 minutes apart at convenience stores outside Charleston. Four days earlier, Gary Carrier Jr., 44, was killed while talking on the telephone outside a Charleston convenience store.
The man depicted in the police sketch was spotted by witnesses near the last two shootings, behind the wheel of a dark Ford F150 pickup truck.
“We’re wanting to talk to him to determine if he was a witness or a suspect or what he knows about the incident,” Pauley said.
The list and drawing were posted on several law enforcement Web sites.
Investigators continued to comb through more than 1,000 leads on Tuesday.
In addition to the heavyset man, police would like to talk to a trim man with “skinny white legs” who is considered a witness.