WASHINGTON – A man wanted for questioning in connection with three unsolved murders in Alexandria, Va., will go before a West Virginia judge Wednesday to fight his extradition to Virginia.
Charles Severance is wanted on a charge — being a felon in possession of a firearm — in Loudoun County, Va. The charge is unrelated to the investigation into the homicides in Alexandria.
Ohio County, W. Va. Circuit Court Judge James Mazzone will hear Severance’s case for extradition Wednesday morning in a Wheeling, W. Va., courtroom.
A clerk for Mazzone says the court expects to hear witness testimony as Severance’s public defender makes his case against extradition and the state rebuts.
Proceedings are expected to conclude Wednesday, however the judge is not sure whether he’ll announce his decision from the bench or take it under advisement and issue a written decision later, his clerk says.
Severance was arrested at a Wheeling library on March 13 after federal investigators, working with the Alexandria Police Department, asked the Wheeling police department to pick him up, Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger confirms.
Severance was arrested without incident that day, Schwertfeger says. He has since decided to fight his extradition to Virginia.
No charges have been filed against Severance, and Alexandria Police say he is not a person of interest in the unsolved cases.
However, since his arrest police searched a pond behind Severance’s parents’ home in Virginia in connection with the murders.
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WTOP will be in the courtroom Wednesday, tweeting from the proceedings. Follow @WTOP on Twitter and on WTOP Facebook page.
