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A road trip, drugs and a killing Selma man jailed in Virginia; police try to fill in blanks By BILL VARBLE A body believed to be that of a murdered Josephine County man has been found in Illinois, another Josephine County man is being held in Virginia, and police in three states are trying to sort out exactly what happened in a cross-country trip gone way wrong. Charles Kenneth Evans, 44, of Selma, is being held on drug charges in Washington County, Va., where he was arrested by sheriff's deputies early Sunday morning. He is charged by Illinois authorities with concealing a homicide. A body believed to be that of Evans' roommate, Jack Dee Moore, 53, was found on a lonely country road in Illinois after a tip from an informer. The victim died from a gunshot wound, said McLean County, Ill., coroner Beth Carlson-Kimmerling. Police are still trying to find out why. They believe the men lived together in a cabin near Selma and were traveling from Oregon to Virginia to visit a friend of Moore's. No murder charges had been filed as of Wednesday, and identification was not positive. "It's taking longer than we hoped," McLean County Sheriff Dave Owen said Wednesday. "We're hoping to get a print by tomorrow." Attempts on Wednesday to reach possible friends or relatives of Moore in this area were unsuccessful. The strange events that would soon come to light started Friday, said Sgt. Scott Schwarzer of the Radford, Va., Police Department. That's when police heard a wild tale from an informant they consider reliable. "The tip was that Evans was traveling to here from Oregon and had been involved in a double shooting and was traveling with both bodies," Schwarzer said. "It was a pretty weird story." The informant said the men were traveling in a 1977 Dodge Tioga mini-motor home. They are believed to have left Oregon about May 18. The informant, whom police would not identify, said he had been getting daily phone calls from the men on the road, but he became alarmed on Friday. That's when, he said, Evans told him an intruder had broken into the motor home and shot Moore dead. Evans said he then shot the gunman dead. He said at the time of the call, he was continuing down the road with both bodies in the RV. The friend wired Evans $300 he said he needed to continue the trip, and the money was picked up in Champaign, Ill. The next call was equally strange. "He called our informant again and said he had disposed of one of the bodies in Kentucky and was bringing the other with him," Schwarzer said. "We thought the story was suspicious, but we felt there was something criminal afoot." Yet another call came about 10:30 Saturday night in Knoxville, Tenn. Radford police alerted law enforcement agencies between Knoxville and Radford to look for the Dodge motor home. They also asked the informant to set up a meeting with Evans at a Radford convenience store in case he made it through. But around 2:30 Sunday morning, the Dodge mini-motor home left Interstate 81 at milepost 19 in western Virginia and pulled into the Roadrunner Travel Center there. The driver got out and began walking up to the store. Watching in the darkness were two Washington County sheriff's deputies who had spotted the Dodge. They approached Evans, who allowed them to search the motor home. "I'm the guy you're probably looking for," he said. Deputies discovered crystal methamphetamine, marijuana and evidence of a shooting, said Detective D.L. Hazelwood of the Washington County Sheriff's Office. They arrested Evans on drug possession charges and took him to jail in Washington County. Moore's dog was still with Evans when he was arrested. Hazelwood said no extradition hearing has been set. He said Evans asked for and has received a court-appointed lawyer. Evans reportedly told police he and Moore lived in a cabin without electricity or running water and talked a lot about violence involving the FBI in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Waco, Texas. Evans provided information that could have been known only to the killer, officials said. During questioning, Evans admitted the story about the intruder - and the second body - was false. "We got a phone call from Washington County," McLean County's Owen said. "They gave us detailed directions. Two of our deputies went out and found him." What police believe is Moore's body was found south of Interstate 74 near Bloomington, Ill. The sheriff said the body could have lain where it was for a very long time without being discovered. He said it was found in tall weeds in a ditch by a culvert separating two corn fields along a chip and gravel county road. "You had to be standing right over it," he said. McLean County sent two investigators to Virginia, he said. "We're investigating as if it occurred in McLean County," he said. "With these people not being from our area, it's possible it happened elsewhere. But we have nothing that tells us that." He said there hadn't been a murder in his jurisdiction in several years. Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.