A woman is lodged in Southern Regional Jail after being charged with murder.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Greenbrier County Magistrate Court, Lajuana Agripina Lopez, 46, was arrested and booked into the jail at 7:19 p.m. on Feb. 21.
Lopez is charged with murder after she confessed to hitting Lorne Atkins, 52, of Rainelle with a hammer. Atkins was discovered deceased in his home on Feb. 7.
According to the complaint, on Feb. 7, Sgt. S.A. Murphy of the Rainelle Detachment of the West Virginia State Police responded to Atkins’ residence in Rainelle, where Atkins was located in an upstairs bedroom with severe head injuries.
It was suspected the injuries came from blunt force trauma, the complaint says. While processing the scene, members of the West Virginia State Police Crime Scene Unit located a claw-type hammer outside the doorway of the room where the crime occurred, between a bag and a couch. The hammer appeared to have blood on several areas, the complaint said.
Through investigation of the crime, Murphy and West Virginia State Police Cpl. J.W. Gilkeson, also of the Rainelle Detachment, obtained a “voluntary, post Miranda Rights statement from the suspect, Jajuana Lopez. On Tuesday, Feb. 21, at approximately 1305 hours.
“During this interview, Ms. Lopez confessed to hitting Mr. Atkins one or more time with a hammer, causing his death,” the complaint said.
Lopez is being held in Southern Regional Jail with no bond.
