WASHINGTON – The man Alexandria police want to talk to in connection with the three unsolved murders of RuthAnne Lodato, Ron Kirby and Nancy Dunning will remain in custody on a $100,000 bond despite prosecutors’ efforts to have that bond revoked.
Charles Severance is in custody in a West Virginia jail after being arrested there on felony weapons charges unrelated to the three murders. On Wednesday, prosecutors argued he was a flight risk and a danger to others and asked his bond be revoked.
Judge James Mazzone took a brief recess to review the evidence and ruled the prosecution had not provided sufficient evidence to support their case, says Mazzone’s clerk Johnna Hutnick.
Severance remains in jail on weapons charges with bond set at $100,000.
Alexandria police have not named him as a person of interest in their investigation of the three high-profile murders.
New details are coming to light about how police found Severance in an Ohio County library last week.
When federal investigators tipped off Wheeling police that Severance was likely at a downtown hotel last week and gave a vehicle description, the entire department began looking for him, says Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger.
Officers found a vehicle that matched the description that had a bike rack but no bike.
Second photo of Severance in front of Russian embassy in DC. pic.twitter.com/2uydPo2fDu
— Jeff Goldberg (@jgoldbergABC7) March 17, 2014
Schwertfeger says Cpl. Doug Howell recognized a bike that had yellow tape wrapped around the handlebars parked outside the library. That same bike was pictured in the surveillance photo taken of Severance outside the Russian Embassy in D.C. where prosecutors say he was seeking asylum.
Severance will likely fight his extradition to Virginia where he is wanted on weapons charges, his public defender says. The extradition hearing is scheduled for March 31.
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