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I'm your host Mark.
And I'm Courtney.
And this is Mountain State Mysteries.
The case we have for you today is about a serial killer who committed murders in Ohio and West
Virginia between 1982 and 1984. This is the case of Eugene Blake. On January 16, 1967, 18-year-old
Donna Jean Ball was driving along West Virginia Route 75 near Cereto. When out of the blue,
she was forced off the road by a man driving a 1958 Chevrolet. Eugene Blake stopped his car,
approached her, and demanded money. After Donna gave him some, Eugene stabbed her eight times
in the face and chest. Somehow Donna managed to survive the initial attack and ran down the road.
That's when she was spotted by her neighbors, Kenny Ward and Dallas Campbell. They picked her up
and contacted the police. The two went to the car and confronted her attacker, but Eugene sped away
before they could. After they told her family what happened, they drove her to the Cabell
Huntington Hospital. Donna Jean Ball was pronounced dead on arrival. On January 17, 1967, 21-year-old
Eugene Blake, who was a truck driver, was actually just released on a one-to-ten-year suspended sentence
for burglary. Eugene was arrested and charged with the murder of Donna Jean Ball. His trial began
later that year. The state presented strong evidence that implicated him in the seemingly
unprovoked attack. Blake was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole,
which he then started an appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeals, arguing that he had not received a
fair trial. His appeal was rejected and he remained incarcerated at the West Virginia State Penitentiary
in Moundsville. Do you ever find yourself searching for a true crime podcast focused on West Virginia?
Well, I have you covered. I'm Mark Covey, the creator of Mountain State Mysteries, where every
Friday my co-host Courtney and I will tell you about one of West Virginia's coldest unsolved cases.
Tune in to Mountain State Mysteries on your favorite podcast platform.
It is said that during his time in prison, Eugene Blake was described as a model inmate
who had managed to gain the trust of the guards to the point they allowed him to visit the prison
warden's house. In 1976, the governor of West Virginia, Arch A. Moore, Jr., commuted his sentence
to life with parole for his good conduct while in Moundsville. In February of 1979, Eugene Blake
was paroled. After this, he moved to Morgantown, where he reportedly violated his parole on more
than one occasion, but Eugene was never arrested. In March of 1982, he moved to Willing West Virginia,
where he would obtain a license to run a local bar despite being a felon. One week later,
after his arrival, on March 19th, Eugene went to Gold Park in Bridgeport, Ohio,
where he came across the car of 21-year-old Mark Withers. He was making out with a 17-year-old girl
whose name has actually never been released. He went up to the two in the car, knocked on the
window, and started screaming at Mark to open the door and give him all their money. When he
rolled down the window, Eugene started to shoot Mark and later threw his body over a fence. Then
he raped the girl. Then he just left. Despite the female victim surviving the attack and giving
police the information, they were unable to arrest any suspect in the case when called.
On October 26, 1984, the body of 13-year-old Mary Ann Helmbrite was found in Osage, West Virginia.
She had been raped and strangled to death. In June of 1985, Eugene Blake was indicted for the murder
in two counts of statutory rape. In 1997, Eugene played guilty on all charges relating to the
Helmbrite murder and was sentenced to a 15-year life term, which he was ordered to serve at the
Hunton'sville Correctional Center in Hunton'sville, West Virginia. In 2008, Eugene Blake was charged
with the murder of Mark Withers after his DNA was connected to the crime scene. He was soon
extradited to Ohio, where prosecutors sought out the death penalty against him for three counts
of aggravated murder. In order to avoid potential death sentence, Eugene played guilty to all charges
in 2010 and was given a 20-year to life sentence. He is eligible for parole after serving at least
70% of his sentence. In May of 2022, Eugene Blake applied for parole before the Ohio Parole Board,
which sparked protests from the prosecutors and family members of his victims. In response to this,
the Belmont County prosecutor, Kevin Flanagan, wrote a response to the parole board, pointing out
that Eugene committed more violent crimes after his first parole. He also called him a monster in
the letter. Do you ever find yourself searching for a true crime podcast focused on West Virginia?
Well, I have you covered. I'm Mark Covey, the creator of Mountain State Mysteries, where every
Friday my co-host Courtney and I will tell you about one of West Virginia's coldest unsolved cases.
Tune into Mountain State Mysteries on your favorite podcast platform.
Eugene Blake's next bid for parole is scheduled for April of 2032, which would make him 87 years old.
Courtney, do you have any final thoughts on this case? I just think it's a little ridiculous
that it took all the years to get him connected to all the cases. And this is the problem I have
with the system is how long that they'll have rape kids, things of that nature before they will
move forward with testing and DNA testing to find out who it is and things of that nature.
It just pisses me off. Mark, do you have any final thoughts? In all honesty, I kind of feel
like there could be more victims of him. They're just either not wanting to talk about being raped
or maybe the murder is just unknown. But that would have to have him coming out and talking about it,
which we both know doesn't really happen that much. And I think if he did get paroled, I think he would
still commit crimes even at his age today. I mean, it was proven before that him being paroled
wasn't a good idea in the first place. He should just stayed in prison. But our governor let him out
and that just was not a good idea whatsoever. Well, our governor was also in prison too at that time.
So yeah, get a lot more. Was he really? Absolutely. Like God's on the strength. My mom says she can
remember when he was reelected the night that he was reelected governor that national news
broadcasters were talking about how only West Virginia would re-elect someone who had been imprisoned.
I had no idea. Yes. Well, it's definitely not the first time that's happened. No, it's not. And I think
another thing with this too is we have such a society of victim blaming on rape victims that
it makes it so hard for someone to come. For them to speak up. Yes. Because, you know, it's,
well, she was asking for it. Nobody asked for it. Nobody asked for it. Right. And, you know,
it's one of those things if you are a victim, there are resources out there that you can talk to
and things of that nature and just know that you were not at fault. Oh, another thing I want to
talk about. It literally just like popped in my head how he was able to go to the warden's house
in Moundsville, which his house was actually in Moundsville. When I did a tour there, they were
like, yeah, no prisoners were allowed up here. And I guess somehow he got special privileges, but
they never let them up there because of his kids. And like when fights broke out and all that,
it was like somehow on lockdown that no one would get in there because in Moundsville,
have you ever been? I haven't been in Moundsville, Baba, in Tulliall Link.
Well, we're going to take a trip one day. So they have this thing that you kind of walk through.
And depending on what way you're going to go, it like turns to where it leads you to that direction.
And I think it's one the only ones still around to this day I could be wrong. But I'm guessing it just
no one was allowed to go there unless I guess they got special permission, which it just honestly
blows my mind they let a prisoner up there. That is like just so odd. And it's so odd that he served
in Moundsville. Left came back to willing. I mean, these people know who he is. Could there be money
involved? Oh, no. It just makes you wonder. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode. If you
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Do you have a case you want us to cover? Send us an email at Mountain State Mysteries304 at gmail.com.
For the show notes, check out our website, mountstatemistriespodcast.com.