Michael James Ols, 53, was found dead in his Cross Lanes, West Virginia, home on Walnut Valley Drive on March 9, 2024. State troopers say his death is being investigated as a homicide after information developed during an unrelated burglary probe.

Troopers arrested 44-year-old Billy Cadle of Cross Lanes earlier that day on a daytime burglary charge in nearby Poca, where two cats were found killed. That investigation led officers to Ols’s residence, where they discovered his body and two deceased dogs. Cadle was charged with first-degree murder in Ols’s death and also faces burglary and animal cruelty charges; he is being held without bond on the murder charge.

Ols, known to friends as Turtle, was a retired sheet metal journeyman and an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed hunting, fishing, and riding his Harley. He was raised by his grandparents, graduated from Nitro High School, and is remembered by family and friends as kindhearted and generous.

Did anyone in Cross Lanes or Poca see Michael, his pets, or anything suspicious around Walnut Valley Drive in early March?