Found Deceased WV - John Jesse Willey, last seen 2018 *suicide or murder?*

[MyBrothersKeeper269]

I am looking for help to prove that Jesse Willey was murdered and did NOT commit suicide.
He was missing for appox 4 years before being found on the property of the man he worked for. He lived on the property also.
Someone was filing taxes in his name for the 4 years that he was missing. They stopped filing when his body was found.
The man that he worked for did NOT believe that Jesse was close to or kept in touch with his family, therefore did not believe that anyone would miss or come looking for him.
This all took place in WV where the "good o'boys" stick together and help each other out. Rumor is that the sheriff is friendly with the man that Jesse lived and worked for. The man had a quail hunting business that he ran on his property and that the sheriff would often come out to hunt.

I am looking for help to find out who filed the taxes for Jesse those 4 years. As well as who cashed any checks or refunds sent in his name (Covid checks etc) I would love any help on this if possible!
I have some leads but I have run into several road blocks along the way. I need fresh eyes and brains to pick. Please help!

 

[GraceG]

I am looking for help to prove that Jesse Willey was murdered and did NOT commit suicide.
He was missing for appox 4 years before being found on the property of the man he worked for. He lived on the property also.
Someone was filing taxes in his name for the 4 years that he was missing. They stopped filing when his body was found.
The man that he worked for did NOT believe that Jesse was close to or kept in touch with his family, therefore did not believe that anyone would miss or come looking for him.
This all took place in WV where the "good o'boys" stick together and help each other out. Rumor is that the sheriff is friendly with the man that Jesse lived and worked for. The man had a quail hunting business that he ran on his property and that the sheriff would often come out to hunt.

I am looking for help to find out who filed the taxes for Jesse those 4 years. As well as who cashed any checks or refunds sent in his name (Covid checks etc) I would love any help on this if possible!
I have some leads but I have run into several road blocks along the way. I need fresh eyes and brains to pick. Please help!

Without backstory to this (who is Jesse, where did he live, when did he die, and where (more specific than a state), we don't have much to go on.

<modsnip>

I did find this article.

https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/story/news/local/2021/01/09/morgan-county-missing-person-case-remains-unsolved/43596631/

<modsnip: If it can't be linked, it can't be discussed or mentioned>

Link is no longer active on NameUS (which is usually where there is some sort of closure on the case).

Missing Person / NamUs #MP68668

View NamUs missing person case MP68668 for John Jesse Willey missing from 5285 Highland Ridge Rd, West Virginia. Date of last contact: May 09, 2018. NCMEC case number: --.

namus.nij.ojp.gov

And THIS from the Charley Project:

John Jesse Willey – The Charley Project

Hopefully, someone else here, can offer assistance. Grace

 

[MyBrothersKeeper269]

Without backstory to this (who is Jesse, where did he live, when did he die, and where (more specific than a state), we don't have much to go on.

The guidelines for starting a thread help the members here get those details. The Opening Post must contain information from, and a link to, an official source: a Mainstream Media (MSM) news article, a release issued by law enforcement, a NamUs listing, etc., without it the thread may be removed by moderators.

<modsnip>

I did find this article.
https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/sto...issing-person-case-remains-unsolved/43596631/

<modsnip: If it can't be linked, it can't be discussed or mentioned>
Link is no longer active on NameUS (which is usually where there is some sort of closure on the case).

Missing Person / NamUs #MP68668

View NamUs missing person case MP68668 for John Jesse Willey missing from 5285 Highland Ridge Rd, West Virginia. Date of last contact: May 09, 2018. NCMEC case number: --.

namus.nij.ojp.gov

And THIS from the Charley Project:

John Jesse Willey – The Charley Project

Hopefully, someone else here, can offer assistance. Grace

Thanks GraceG. You will have to forgive me... I'm new here and don't know all the ins and outs yet.
Those are all links for info to Jesse. I am, however, more so looking for information on how to get the tax records.
I have a lot of info and details about everything else.. I'm just needing help finding out who filed the taxes for him while he was clearly deceased. This person would have to know that Jesse was dead already.
Again, I'm pretty sure I already know who it was.. I just need to get the info about who filed the taxes "as Jesse" for those 4 years.

 

[Aegon_the_Conqueror]

Without backstory to this (who is Jesse, where did he live, when did he die, and where (more specific than a state), we don't have much to go on.

<modsnip>

I did find this article.
https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/sto...issing-person-case-remains-unsolved/43596631/

<modsnip: If it can't be linked, it can't be discussed or mentioned>

Link is no longer active on NameUS (which is usually where there is some sort of closure on the case).

Missing Person / NamUs #MP68668​

View NamUs missing person case MP68668 for John Jesse Willey missing from 5285 Highland Ridge Rd, West Virginia. Date of last contact: May 09, 2018. NCMEC case number: --.

namus.nij.ojp.gov

And THIS from the Charley Project:
John Jesse Willey – The Charley Project

Hopefully, someone else here, can offer assistance. Grace

I think this is the same guy. Maybe he went by his middle name. He was from Berkeley Springs, which I think is between Hagerstown and Cumberland, MD. Found a skeleton with the gun. Missing in 2018, reported in 2020, found in 2022. The most recent article I can find is from when the remains were found, but none saying they were confirmed to be his. None saying whether it was a suicide or homicide. I imagine this would be a difficult case for law enforcement, as the late report put the investigation 2 years behind and the body was too decomposed to leave many clues. You could speculate from the position of the body, location of the gun, and trajectory of the bullet, but it might not be conclusive.

OP was kinda vague, though. I never have a clue who people are referring to when they say "'the' good ol' boys" who "stick together". My 93 year old grandfather in Charleston? I'm a WV native (although I've lived in NJ since I was little) and WVU alum, am I a "good ol' boy"? I've never met anyone there who would look the other way or help cover up a homicide. Nobody "sticks together" any differently than friends anywhere else. Not saying he wasn't murdered, but I need actual evidence or at least reasons for suspicion, and vague assertions like that would be meaningless in any scenario.

 

[Aegon_the_Conqueror]

Thanks GraceG. You will have to forgive me... I'm new here and don't know all the ins and outs yet.
Those are all links for info to Jesse. I am, however, more so looking for information on how to get the tax records.
I have a lot of info and details about everything else.. I'm just needing help finding out who filed the taxes for him while he was clearly deceased. This person would have to know that Jesse was dead already.
Again, I'm pretty sure I already know who it was.. I just need to get the info about who filed the taxes "as Jesse" for those 4 years.

IRS Form 4506.

Request deceased person's information | Internal Revenue Service

 

[Aegon_the_Conqueror]

Long as you're "an estate administrator, executor, or personal representative of a deceased person".

 

[GraceG]

Thanks GraceG. You will have to forgive me... I'm new here and don't know all the ins and outs yet.
Those are all links for info to Jesse. I am, however, more so looking for information on how to get the tax records.
I have a lot of info and details about everything else.. I'm just needing help finding out who filed the taxes for him while he was clearly deceased. This person would have to know that Jesse was dead already.
Again, I'm pretty sure I already know who it was.. I just need to get the info about who filed the taxes "as Jesse" for those 4 years.

No worries - I'm STILL learning what is the best and correct way to post information on here within the guidelines. The moderators have been very helpful and patient.

If you are just looking for information as to who filed the return, I'm afraid you're out of luck. Under IRS Code 6103 tax information related to a deceased person is not available to the public under FOIA. You can use FOIA to request some federal agency records, but tax records are exempt from that to protect a person's privacy, and the confidentiality of tax information doesn't end with death. Disclosure laws | Internal Revenue Service You might think - "Well I'm just wanting the NAME of who filed them, not the records themselves". The answer is still the same. Under strict federal privacy laws, the IRS cannot disclose who filed someone's tax return, including a spouse or a dependent.

Sorry to not have more positive news. (my daughter and Dad are both CPA's and daughter was a tax specialist for the feds before starting her own firm).

 

[bluestsocks]

No worries - I'm STILL learning what is the best and correct way to post information on here within the guidelines. The moderators have been very helpful and patient.

If you are just looking for information as to who filed the return, I'm afraid you're out of luck. Under IRS Code 6103 tax information related to a deceased person is not available to the public under FOIA. You can use FOIA to request some federal agency records, but tax records are exempt from that to protect a person's privacy, and the confidentiality of tax information doesn't end with death. Disclosure laws | Internal Revenue Service You might think - "Well I'm just wanting the NAME of who filed them, not the records themselves". The answer is still the same. Under strict federal privacy laws, the IRS cannot disclose who filed someone's tax return, including a spouse or a dependent.

Sorry to not have more positive news. (my daughter and Dad are both CPA's and daughter was a tax specialist for the feds before starting her own firm).

Yeah the thing is, if you are named administrator or executor, you can get copies of the returns which might be a place to start, but if someone randomly filed online using the deceased person’s information, there’s essentially no way to track that down, unless law enforcement is involved. And even then, at best you’re tracking an IP address.

 

[Aegon_the_Conqueror]

Yeah the thing is, if you are named administrator or executor, you can get copies of the returns which might be a place to start, but if someone randomly filed online using the deceased person’s information, there’s essentially no way to track that down, unless law enforcement is involved. And even then, at best you’re tracking an IP address.

There's probably no tax lawyer or accountant in the country who would touch that with a 10 foot pole. Anybody else would be going through a VPN (or 2, or 50). Who still had him on payroll?

 

[TMich6811]

Trying to wade through this a bit and figure it out in my head

Are you saying you think he was killed when he went missing and someone continued to file his taxes until it was known he was dead?

Does the autopsy/ review of remains support having died 4 years earlier than when he was found?

 

[MyBrothersKeeper269]

Trying to wade through this a bit and figure it out in my head

Are you saying you think he was killed when he went missing and someone continued to file his taxes until it was known he was dead?

Does the autopsy/ review of remains support having died 4 years earlier than when he was found?

Yes...
After the autopsy it was said that he had been out there 4 years. Which was the entire time he was missing.
There was a wound to the side of his head which looks like suicide.. but the gun used was a gun the man owned NOT Jesse.
He had at least 2 hand guns that he owned and one of them he kept on him daily.
The gun found with Jesse ("that he used to kill himself") was a long barrel handgun. I don't know anything about guns at all.. but Jesse owed a smaller handgun that he carried on his hip day to day while out in the woods working.

There are ALOT of details that I have left out only bc my main question was simply about the tax information. Whoever was filing the taxes KNEW Jesse was gone long before everyone else. The filing of the taxes started the year he "disappeared" and ended when his body was found.

 

[Aegon_the_Conqueror]

Yes...
After the autopsy it was said that he had been out there 4 years. Which was the entire time he was missing.
There was a wound to the side of his head which looks like suicide.. but the gun used was a gun the man owned NOT Jesse.
He had at least 2 hand guns that he owned and one of them he kept on him daily.
The gun found with Jesse ("that he used to kill himself") was a long barrel handgun. I don't know anything about guns at all.. but Jesse owed a smaller handgun that he carried on his hip day to day while out in the woods working.

There are ALOT of details that I have left out only bc my main question was simply about the tax information. Whoever was filing the taxes KNEW Jesse was gone long before everyone else. The filing of the taxes started the year he "disappeared" and ended when his body was found.

Who kept paying him for those four years? If he's dead, there should've been no need to file, except for the partial year after he died. It wouldn't make sense for an employer to continue paying a full year's salary for any reason, let alone just to get the small amount back in a tax return.

The IRS wouldn't know who cashed them. That's a totally different ballgame. The checks are issued by the Treasury Dept's Bureau of Financial Services (and the State of WV's equivalent). But even they might not be the ones you would get the information from (they might have it, I'm not sure). You would have to go to the bank where the checks were deposited, and they would tell you who did it as long as you're the executor or administrator of his estate. If you don't know the bank, this is where it could be like finding a needle in a haystack. Maybe start with Truist, United, and WesBanco, but it could be any of them. Your best bet if you suspect fraud is to consult a probate attorney and ask about filing a separate police report for the fraud. What evidence would you be able to provide for probable cause?

 

[GraceG]

Using a "long gun" for suicide isn't common if the person has access to a handgun, but it's NOT rare by any means. The problem, forensically is after 4 years, many of the key findings from the contact wound that help determine suicide versus murder are no longer available due to decomp. But honestly, in such cases the long gun was the only gun the person had access to, using a pistol could be such that an assured outcome (quick painless death) would be more likely to occur. There have been attempted suicides with long guns that have left horrific injuries from which the person survived. One of the initial "face transplant" cases was one such individual. https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/14/health/face-transplant-suicide-attempt-natgeo-profile

In suicides involving a long-barreled shotgun, the most common sites are the head (intraoral or submental) or the intraoral (inside the mouth). But after 4 years unless the remains have become mummified from environmental conditions you're likely going to lose key tissue evidence, such as wound edges, muzzle imprint on the skin around the wound, tissue damage, powder stippling tattooing) with presence (or not) of searing or heavy soot, abrasions, etc. (there's a lot more, but those are some of the basics the ME would be looking for).

We had a plane crash investigation years ago (public record now) wherein the pilot shot his passenger in the head, then accidentally crashed into trees in rising terrain before being able to push the body out of the small craft into a remote high altitude forest lake area, then committed suicde after being stuck in an extremely remote area with a crashed plane and his dead estranged spouse. So I learned a little bit about that at the time (plus I own and am formally trained on firearms)

Do you have a way to get a copy of any medical examiner findings of when the body was recovered? That can usually be obtained through FOIA.

 

[Aegon_the_Conqueror]

Actually... You will DEFINITELY have to get a lawyer first and file a new police report, because they wouldn't be able to give you any information unless e check was deposited to his account, which I'm sure it wasn't if there was fraud. You would need the account, routing, and check numbers. You definitely have to provide evidence for your suspicion, though, otherwise they have nothing to work with.

 

[Aegon_the_Conqueror]

Using a "long gun" for suiciide isn't common if the person has access to a handgun, but it's NOT rare by any means. The problem, forensically is after 4 years, many of the key findings from the contact wound that help determine suicide versus murder are n longer available due to decomp. But honestly, in such cases the long gun was the only gun the person had access to, using a pistol could be such that an assured outcome (quick painless death) would be more likely to occur. There have been attempted suicides with long guns that have left horrific injuries from which the person survived. One of the initial "face transplant" cases was one such individual. https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/14/health/face-transplant-suicide-attempt-natgeo-profile

In suicides involving a long-barreled shotgun, the most common sites are the head (intraoral or submental) or the intraoral (inside the mouth). But after 4 years unless the remains have become mummified from environmental conditions you're likely going to lose key tissue evidence, such as wound edges, muzzle imprint on the skin around the wound, tissue damage, powder stippling tattooing) with presence (or not) of searing or heavy soot, abrasions, etc. (there's a lot more, but those are some of the basics the ME would be looking for).

We had a plane crash investigation years ago (public record now) wherein the pilot shot his passenger in the head, then accidentally crashed into trees in rising terrains before being able to push the body out of the small craft into a deep forest lake area, then committed suicde after being stuck in an extremely remote area with a crashed plane and his dead estranged spouse. So I learned a little bit about that atthe time (plus I own and am formally trained on firearms)

Do you have a way to get a copy of any medical examiner findings of when the body was recovered? That can usually be obtained through FOIA.

Not unheard of. My dad's friend shot himself in the chest with a shotgun. According to his wife.

 

[buyerninety]

@MyBrothersKeeper269
I'm not a lawyer, but I can't help but take the view that
you may be unimpressed with the responses you have
received so far.
If it were the case that someone was falsely filing tax
returns for a dead man (and possibly receiving tax
refunds or some kind of primary producer rebates or
possibly business staff salary deductions, etc.),
that could reasonably be considered (Federal) wire
or mail fraud (depending on how any refunds were
being passed by any Federal government agency to
the filer).
You could try to interest the FBI in this matter, perhaps
firstly (and I acknowledge your comment in regard to
W V) look at the YT channel of 'The Civil Rights Lawyer'
(who may be interested in hearing about this matter
and who is based in Union).
Cheers

 

[otto]

What does the autopsy report say about the bullet wound?

"A West Virginia medical examiner joined officers with the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department this morning at the site where human remains were located yesterday by mushroom hunters. Those remains have been removed from an isolated spot along a small creek where they were found sitting against a rock. Skeletal remains were largely contained by clothing and included a jaw and skull, which the medical examiner will use to positively identify the person. Also recovered at the scene was a handgun and a bullet."

Police believe remains are those of man missing since 2018 - Morgan Messenger

Chief Deputy Johnnie Walter talks with a West Virginia Medical Examiner while Capt. Tim Stapleton and Sheriff K.C. Bohrer stand by on Thursday. A West Virginia medical examiner joined officers with the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department this morning at the site where human remains were located...

www.morganmessenger.com

In Canada, everyone files taxes using their social insurance number. Do you have that number (whatever it's called in the USA) for Jesse?

 

[SimplyCass]

Document Requests

The primary functions of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner are to perform death investigations, establish cause and manner of death, formulate conclusions, opinions or testimony in judicial proceedings, and to be available for consultations as necessary.

dhhr.wv.gov

This process to request decedent records looks lengthy and miserable. Call in to get the case number, make written request, receive invoice number, and pay (all by mail). Restricted to next of kin or estate only.

 

[deadfoot13]

Who kept paying him for those four years? If he's dead, there should've been no need to file, except for the partial year after he died. It wouldn't make sense for an employer to continue paying a full year's salary for any reason, let alone just to get the small amount back in a tax return.

The IRS wouldn't know who cashed them. That's a totally different ballgame. The checks are issued by the Treasury Dept's Bureau of Financial Services (and the State of WV's equivalent). But even they might not be the ones you would get the information from (they might have it, I'm not sure). You would have to go to the bank where the checks were deposited, and they would tell you who did it as long as you're the executor or administrator of his estate. If you don't know the bank, this is where it could be like finding a needle in a haystack. Maybe start with Truist, United, and WesBanco, but it could be any of them. Your best bet if you suspect fraud is to consult a probate attorney and ask about filing a separate police report for the fraud. What evidence would you be able to provide for probable cause?

BBM

I could see this happening for a little while with the confusion during the early days of Covid, but I, too, would not think that an employer would keep paying someone who is obviously not working, especially for four years. That would be the only way a W-2 would be generated (an employer continuing to pay the federal tax withheld from wages.)

However, there were some stimulus/economic impact payments during the 4-year stretch in question (2018-2022, I believe?) that had to be claimed via a tax return if they weren't automatically issued. Even someone without taxable income would have to file a return to receive that money.

https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/coronavirus/assistance-for-american-families-and-workers/economic-impact-payments

Refundable tax credits | Internal Revenue Service

A refundable tax credit is a credit you can get as a refund even if you don’t owe any tax. Find credits you might be eligible for.

www.irs.gov

 

[angelainwi]

BBM

I could see this happening for a little while with the confusion during the early days of Covid, but I, too, would not think that an employer would keep paying someone who is obviously not working, especially for four years. That would be the only way a W-2 would be generated (an employer continuing to pay the federal tax withheld from wages.)

However, there were some stimulus/economic impact payments during the 4-year stretch in question (2018-2022, I believe?) that had to be claimed via a tax return if they weren't automatically issued. Even someone without taxable income would have to file a return to receive that money.

https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/coronavirus/assistance-for-american-families-and-workers/economic-impact-payments

Refundable tax credits | Internal Revenue Service

A refundable tax credit is a credit you can get as a refund even if you don’t owe any tax. Find credits you might be eligible for.

www.irs.gov

Someone who killed one of their employees (SPECULATION) might want to continue paying him so that it looked like he was not a suspect...???