Eric Cheeks
Eric Grant “Spud” Cheeks
Birth: 6 Jul 1980, Olney, Maryland
Last seen: 22 Apr 2000
Remains found: 23 Apr 2001
Eric was last seen in the early morning hours of Saturday, April 22nd. He was wearing baggy blue jeans, a white tank top, a blue and white short sleeve shirt, black shoes, and a gold chain.
Parents say remains found in W.Va. are those of missing son
Dave McMillion
The Herald-Mail | April 24, 2001
CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - The parents of a Harpers Ferry, W.Va., man say police have told them they believe remains found near the Appalachian Trail are those of their son.
West Virginia State Police Sgt. S.E. Paugh said Tuesday that although he could not confirm any conversations his department may have had with the couple, it is a "definite possibility" the remains are those of Eric Grant Cheeks, who was 19 years old when he disappeared a year ago.
Donna Cheeks said authorities have told her they believe the remains are those of her son because his wallet, his driver's license, a necklace he owned and his mother's credit card were found at the scene.
Roy Cheeks said he believes his son was slain.
"Either that, or something really bad went wrong," he said.
Virginia State Police said they were investigating the case as a homicide, pending completion of an autopsy.
Virginia State Police said the skeletal remains were discovered Sunday by a hiker who walked off the Appalachian Trail and got lost.
The remains were about 300 feet off the trail near the West Virginia and Virginia border, Virginia State Police Sgt. Tom Martin said.
Police officers met Sunday evening with the hiker who was to take them to the spot where he had seen the remains, but the search was unsuccessful, Martin said.
They resumed the search at about 8 a.m. Monday and found the remains on a hillside in an area that is not accessible by car, investigators said.
It would be possible to drive within a mile of the site, but only with a four-wheel drive vehicle, Martin said.
The remains were found about two miles from an entrance to the trail that is near the West Virginia and Virginia state line along W.Va. 9 on Blue Ridge Mountain, Martin said.
Four West Virginia State Police troopers, several Virginia State Police officers and a Virginia State Police evidence team searched the area Tuesday for evidence, Paugh said.
The two state police agencies have agreed to have the remains sent to the state Medical Examiner's office in Fairfax, Va., for an autopsy, Martin said.
Cheeks, a 1998 graduate of Jefferson High School, disappeared April 21, 2000, after going to a party with friends on Cave Road near Charles Town, his parents said.
Eric left his parents' house in the Keyes Ferry Acres subdivision on Blue Ridge Mountain to go to the party with a group of friends, his parents said.
There was drinking at the party and something occurred that caused everyone to panic and leave, said Roy Cheeks.
Eric became upset at the party, his parents said.
"They said he had a fifth of vodka. Now how does a 19-year-old get a fifth of vodka?" said Roy Cheeks.
Eric wanted to leave, and got a ride back to his house in a car with four other people, Donna Cheeks said the family was told.
His family says he never made it home.
There are conflicting accounts of what happened that night, including whether Eric wanted out of the car or was forced out, his parents said.
Roy Cheeks said he believes his son was forced out of the car because he supposedly got out about a mile from his house.
Roy Cheeks said Eric did not like to walk, and he had hurt his leg shortly before.
"Booze will do strange things to a person. But I know my son," Cheeks said.
Another account suggests that Eric and four others in a car many have been at a lake in the Shannondale subdivision that night in addition to going to the First Born Church on Hostler Road, his mother said.
After Eric's disappearance, his parents searched Blue Ridge Mountain from Mission Road down to the Shenandoah River and police used dogs to look for him.
After her son's disappearance, a man told Eric's mother that Eric stopped by his Hostler Road house on the night of the party to use the telephone.
Donna Cheeks said she believes Eric was at the man's house because he gave a good description of her son. The man's phone bill, however, didn't reflect that Eric made the call, she said.
On Jan. 8, an e-mail was sent to the West Virginia State Police Web site from someone claiming to have information about the disappearance of Eric Cheeks, his mother said.
The e-mail stated that anyone who wanted to know what happened to Eric should contact a man in Shannondale subdivision, Donna Cheeks said.
Cheeks said police called the man and he told them he saw Eric walking away from his parents' house on W.Va. 9 on the night of the party.
Paugh said he could not confirm whether such an e-mail had been sent.
"I know we've followed up on everything we got," Paugh said.
Like Eric's parents, Paugh said accounts of what happened that night differ.
"I really can't be more specific than that at this point," Paugh said.
Eric Cheeks was working at Creative Urethanes in Purcellville, Va., at the time of his disappearance.
Woman says remains may be those of son
Charleston Daily Mail | April 25, 2001
MARTINSBURG - The mother of a 19-year-old Harpers Ferry man who disappeared a year ago says she believes human remains found off the Appalachian Trail are those of her son.
Donna Cheeks said a wallet, driver's license and pager belonging to her son, Eric Cheeks, were found with the remains, The Journal in Martinsburg reported Tuesday.
State troopers declined to confirm that information, the newspaper reported. Preliminary reports indicated the remains were those of a man, about 20 years old, and had been in the woods for at least a year, police said.
"I just want whoever hurt my son to pay," Donna Cheeks said. "We all love our son very much. Whoever may have done this to him, I don't know how they can live with themselves. How they can leave someone in the woods for a year and abandon him."
A lost hiker, who was not identified, stumbled upon the skeletal remains Sunday and alerted authorities, police said.
Skeleton on Hiking Trail Identified
The Washington Post | April 28, 2001
Virginia State Police said that Eric G. Cheeks, of Harpers Ferry, was last seen alive April 22, 2000. His remains were found exactly one year later by a hiker who wandered off the trail.
Police would not say whether the state medical examiner has been able to determine how Cheeks died. West Virginia State Police are investigating the death because authorities determined that the skeleton was found in West Virginia, about 100 feet from the Loudoun County line.
Officials identify remains found on trail
Charleston Daily Mail | April 28, 2001
MARTINSBURG - Human remains found by a hiker on the Appalachian Trail last weekend have been identified as a 19-year-old Harpers Ferry man who disappeared a year ago.
State Police troopers used dental records to identify the man as Eric Cheeks, who had been missing since he attended a party last year, said West Virginia State Police Sgt. S.E. Paugh.
Cheeks' mother had told The Journal in Martinsburg on Monday that she suspected the remains were her son because a wallet, driver's license and pager belonging to her son were found with the body.
State Police troopers confirmed Friday that some of Eric Cheeks' belongings were found at the site, which was about 300 feet off the trail and just inside the West Virginia state line.
A lost hiker, who was not identified, stumbled upon the skeletal remains on Sunday, April 22, and alerted authorities. Law enforcement officials located the remains the next day.
Paugh said the cause of death has not been determined and the case has been labeled suspicious.
"We're obviously now treating it as a homicide," Paugh said.
Medical examiners in Fairfax, Va. will to conduct toxicology tests on the remains to determine whether drugs or alcohol were present in Cheeks' system when he died. The results should be available in a couple weeks, Paugh said.
Cheeks' parents, meanwhile, say they want to make sure their son is buried properly.
"I want to bring him home and lay him to rest and give him the best funeral I can," Donna Cheeks said Friday. "And then I want justice."
Obituary - Eric G. Cheeks
The Herald-Mail | May 2, 2001
HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. - Eric Grant Cheeks, 19, of Keyes Ferry Acres, died Saturday, April 22, 2000. He had been missing for a year; his body was found in Jefferson County, W.Va. on Sunday, April 22, 2001.
Born July 6, 1980, in Olney, Md., he was the son of Roy Eugene Cheeks Sr. and Donna Seaton Cheeks of Harpers Ferry.
He was a 1998 graduate of Jefferson High School.
He was a machine operator for Creative Urethane, Purcellville, Va.
He and his father coached Jefferson County Youth Football.
He played in football, baseball and basketball leagues in Jefferson County.
In addition to his parents, he is survived by a sister, Marcia Cheeks of Harpers Ferry; a brother, Roy E. Cheeks Jr. of Raleigh, N.C.; paternal grandparents, Charles and Beulah Cheeks of Bentonville, Va.; maternal grandmother, Burnice Seaton of Rockville, Md.; aunts and uncles.
He was preceded in death by maternal grandfather, Thomas E. Seaton.
Services will be Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at Silver Grove United Methodist Church, Silver Grove, W.Va. The Rev. Donnie Jane Cardwell will officiate. Burial will be in Silver Grove Cemetery.
The family will receive friends Friday from 7-9 p.m. at Eackles-Spencer Funeral Home, 970 Washington St., Harpers Ferry.
Memorial donations may be made to Silver Grove United Methodist Church, c/o Patsy Everhart, Route 1, Box 1347, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425.
Missing teen murdered, medical examiners say
Charleston Gazette | July 5, 2001
CHARLES TOWN - Virginia medical examiners say 17-year-old Susan Capino, whose body was found recently after she disappeared from her Harpers Ferry house in 1997, was killed by blunt force trauma to the head.
Capino was hit in the face near the right eye, said state Trooper Dean Olack, who is working on the case with deputies from the Loudoun County, Va., sheriff's office. Police have not determined where she was killed.
Capino disappeared in August 1997 after a reported fight with her stepfather over dirty dinner dishes. Her family reported her missing two days later.
Her incomplete skeletal remains were found in a wooded area last month by cadets with a criminal justice academy in Virginia. They were scouring the area just outside the border off W.Va. 9 for clues to the unrelated shooting of a Virginia man.
The case is not connected to a similar one involving 19-year-old Eric Cheeks, a hiker whose body was found April 22 just off the Appalachian Trail a year after he disappeared, Olack said.
Cause of man's death still a mystery
Charleston Daily Mail | November 15, 2001
MARTINSBURG - Investigators say they cannot determine the cause of death of a 19-year-old Harpers Ferry man whose body laid in the woods for a year before it was discovered.
Eric Grant Cheeks' body was found April 23 on Blue Ridge Mountain along the West Virginia-Virginia border. A hiker spotted the body in a wooded area about 300 feet off the Appalachian Trail.
Dental records were used to identify Cheeks, who was reported missing in April 2000 after he failed to return from a party.
The cause of his death may never be determined, said West Virginia State Police Detective Dean Olack.
Olack said blunt force trauma to the head has been ruled out because the skull appears to be normal.
Despite the lack of medical evidence, the case is being investigated as a homicide. Police are interviewing people who were questioned before to determine if their stories have changed.
Unknown Original Article Source
This article geographically ties together the deaths Susan Capino and Eric Cheeks
Found posted to an online forum on November 17, 2001
CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - Investigators said they cannot determine the cause of death of a 19-year-old Harpers Ferry, W.Va., man because of the advanced decomposition of the victim's body when it was found on Blue Ridge Mountain in Loudoun County, Va., last April.
Cheeks' skeletal remains were found about 300 feet off the Appalachian Trail near the West Virginia/Virginia stateline on April 23.
Although Cheeks' cause of death cannot be determined, police are investigating his death as a homicide
Cheeks' remains were the first of three bodies that were found within a roughly half-mile area of Blue Ridge Mountain between April 23 and early June, police said.
In early June, human bones found off a dirt road about a half-mile into Virginia from the West Virginia line were determined to be those of Susan Capino, who had been missing since 1997, police said.
Police found Capino's remains while they were doing follow-up investigation work at a house along the dirt road where a man had been found dead earlier with a gunshot wound to the head, said Capt. Randy Bandura of the Loudoun County Sheriff's Department.
Patrick Blair Hornbaker, 32, was found dead in the house May 21, Bandura said.
Despite the fact the three bodies were found close together and within a short period of time, police have said they do not believe the three cases are connected.