ST. CLAIRSVILLE Ben Watson was sentenced Monday for second-degree felony sexual battery and third-degree felony gross sexual imposition. In a news releas
Times Leader Staff Writer
BELMONT COUNTY Sheriff Dave Lucas, left, talks with the media during a press conference announcing details of the Barnesville murder-kidnapping case.
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BARNESVILLE When 69-year-old Norma Matko of St. Clairsville was found apparently shot to death at her family home along Ohio 800 outside Barnesville during Thanksgiving, Belmont County’s law enforcement officers joined with multiple agencies from inside and outside Ohio and the FBI in searching for a suspect and for Matko’s kidnapped daughter, Nicole Bronowski of Cuyahoga Falls.
Dec 20, 2020
ST. CLAIRSVILLE Belmont County Sheriff David Lucas confirmed Wednesday that two more arrests were made in connection with the November murder of Norma Matko and the abduction of her daughter, Nicole Bronowski.
Matko was found shot to death on Thanksgiving, No. 26, in her family home along Ohio 800 outside Barnesville. She was a St. Clairsville resident.
Bronowski had been reported missing to the Cuyahoga Falls Police Department. Cleveland law enforcement became involved in the homicide case when Matko’s car was found burned in that city. Cleveland detectives and Belmont County law enforcement traveled to a site in Louisiana where one suspect, James Hawley, was killed in a gunfight with FBI agents. Bronowski was found with Hawley. She was not physically harmed and is now safe with her family.
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE Belmont County Sheriff David Lucas reported two more arrests in connection with the November murder of Norma Matko of Bellaire and the abduction of her daughter, Nicole Bronowski.
Belmont County deputies assisted in an investigation leading to the arrests of Andrew Welch, 28, and Lester Foster, 27, both of Cleveland. The two men were indicted on two counts of kidnapping and one count of tampering with evidence. They are now being held on bonds of $100,000 in the Cuyahoga County Jail.
With these arrests, Lucas said he believes this concludes the investigation into people involved in the “conspiracy.”
Cleveland law enforcement became involved in the homicide case when Matko’s car was found burned in that city. Bronowski was reported missing to the Cuyahoga Calls Police Department. Cleveland detectives and Belmont County law enforcement traveled to a site in Louisiana where the suspect, James Hawley, was killed in a gunfight with FBI agents.
Times Leader Staff Writer
ST. CLAIRSVILLE Belmont County Sheriff David Lucas confirmed Wednesday that two more arrests were made in connection with the November murder of Norma Matko and the abduction of her daughter, Nicole Bronowski.
Matko was found shot to death on Thanksgiving, No. 26, in her family home along Ohio 800 outside Barnesville. She was a St. Clairsville resident.
Bronowski had been reported missing to the Cuyahoga Falls Police Department. Cleveland law enforcement became involved in the homicide case when Matko’s car was found burned in that city. Cleveland detectives and Belmont County law enforcement traveled to a site in Louisiana where one suspect, James Hawley, was killed in a gunfight with FBI agents. Bronowski was found with Hawley. She was not physically harmed and is now safe with her family.