A Kentucky man now faces a murder charge. Cops say he shot a man. Then he buried the body. Later he dug it up and hid it again.
Christopher Webb is 37. He is from Morehead, Kentucky. Cops charged him with murder. They also charged him with two other crimes. One is called tampering with evidence. The other is called abuse of a corpse.
The Kentucky State Police made the arrest this week. A trooper with the state police office in Ashland confirmed it on Monday.
Cops say Webb shot and killed David Stallard. This happened in early August. The shooting took place on Webb's own land. That land sits in the Barker Flats area of Carter County.
Stallard went missing right after the shooting. No one found his body for weeks. People in the small town did not know what had happened to him. His family had no answers.
State police say Webb tried to hide what he did. First, he wrapped Stallard's body in plastic. Then he buried it on his own land.
But Webb did not stop there, cops say. Weeks later, he dug the body back up. He moved it to a new spot on the same land. He burned the plastic that had covered it. Then he buried Stallard again. This time he did not wrap the body at all.
Cops say Webb later showed them the new burial spot. Police wrote it down this way: "Webb showed detectives the location on his property where he stated Stallard's body was buried."
Crews dug up Stallard's body in the Olive Hill area. That part of Carter County sits close to Barker Flats. Police announced the find on Monday.
The extra charges Webb faces are serious on their own. Tampering with evidence means hiding proof of a crime. In this case, cops say that proof was a dead body. In Kentucky, this crime is a felony. A felony is a serious crime. It can mean one to five years in prison.
Abuse of a corpse is also a felony in Kentucky. This charge covers moving or hiding a dead body in a way the law does not allow. Digging up a body and reburying it can fall under this charge, cops say.
Murder is the most serious charge Webb faces. In Kentucky, a murder charge can bring 20 years in prison. It can even bring a life term. In the worst cases, it can bring the death penalty. Only a judge or jury can hand down that kind of sentence. That would happen only if Webb is found guilty at trial.
Kentucky State Police have not said why the shooting happened. They have not named a motive yet. The case is still open. Troopers may add more charges as they learn more.
Carter County is a rural county in northeastern Kentucky. It sits near the West Virginia line. Homes there are spread far apart. Neighbors often know each other well. A man going missing for weeks with no word left many people on edge.
In Kentucky, a murder case like this one usually goes before a grand jury. A grand jury is a group of regular citizens. They look at the evidence. They decide if there is enough proof to send the case to a full trial. That step often comes weeks or months after an arrest.
Until then, the courts treat Webb the same as anyone else facing a charge. He has the right to a lawyer. He has the right to hear all the evidence against him. He has the right to fight the charges at trial.
It is not yet clear when Webb will first stand before a judge. For now, he sits in jail. The case stays open.
Everyone is presumed innocent until proved otherwise.
