Do you find yourself searching for a true crime podcast focused on West Virginia?
Well, I have you covered. I'm Mark Covey, the host and creator of Mountain State Mysteries,
where every Friday my co-host Courtney and I tell you about one of West Virginia's coldest
unsolved cases. Tune in to Mountain State Mysteries on your favorite podcast platform.
Mountain State Mysteries contains adult content that may not be suitable for all audiences.
Listener discretion is advised. I'm your host Mark, and this is Mountain State Mysteries.
The case I have for you today is about a 16 year old who got mad at his parents and ended up
killing his entire family. This is the case of Jerry Ball. On January 28th, 1983, Betty Ball and
her children were doing what most families did in the 1980s. They were watching television as a
family. Harold Ball was in the other room taking a nap. The Balls lived off Dry Hill Road in Beckley,
West Virginia, and they sounded like a picture perfect family. That is, until that chilly January
day. Their oldest child Jerry asked his mom if he could go hang out with some friends at the
old Hex shopping center parking lot. She told Jerry no. His family never saw what was coming that night.
Jerry says he took a baseball bat and struck his mother in the head. Then he went up to his father
and his two younger brothers. Stephen, who was 11, and Richard, who was 6. He took turns striking
them with the baseball bat multiple times, murdering all of them. Jerry dragged each of the bodies
into his parents' room and took the mattress off the bed to cover up the bodies. In the autopsy
reports, it says Harold was the only one who tried to defend himself. When the West Virginia
State Police asked Jerry why he dragged the bodies into his parents' bedroom, he said he didn't know
why. Jerry later confessed to his motive, quote, I guess because my mom kept cussing me and jumping
on me. In quote, he told authorities that by jumping on him, he basically meant that she
just cussed him. He also confessed to using a.22 caliber pistol to shoot his mother. According to
the state medical examiner, all four sustained multiple blunt force injuries to the head.
Betty was shot once in the back of the head. Jerry said, quote, I hit all of them four or five times
or maybe more than that. I didn't count. In quote, John Price, a family friend whose boy saw Jerry
the night of the murders, said his son closest to Jerry was completely flabbergasted by the murders.
The psychiatric reports said Jerry was a schizophrenic abuse child. Jerry's legal team
argued that the murders occurred due to his abusive childhood. However, the neighbors would
disagree with this statement. Dr. Shevert Frazier, chairman of the Department of Psychology at Harvard,
told Marion County Circuit judge Fred Fox, the second Jerry committed the killings in a blind
rage and that the 16-year-old teen was unable to control his rage. However, a psychologist at the
lake in prison said Jerry demonstrated no psychosis and displayed a good grasp of reality.
They also said the teen understood the wrongfulness of his actions from that night. In the psychiatric
reports, it also indicated that Jerry was not mentally handicapped. Larry Earl, the psychologist
for Raleigh County Schools, was Jerry's baseball coach for two years. Earl said that Jerry did not
have discipline problems and he never got into fights. Instead, Jerry was the opposite. Earl
recalled Jerry getting along with his siblings and said that Jerry carried around his youngest brother
Richard like he was a second dad. Jerry was indicted on four counts of murder. He was given
four life sentences to be served consecutively. Jerry was tried as an adult in November of 1985.
The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals ordered Jerry to be sent to the Anthony Center for youthful
offenders. The West Virginia Supreme Court decided the court has authority under West Virginia Code
to sentence a person who commits a homicide while a minor to the Anthony Center for youthful male
offenders even though he was sentenced as an adult. Jerry has since been transferred to a
maximum security penitentiary in West Virginia. He is still serving life in prison today.
Stay tuned for a new episode coming out next week. If you find yourself enjoying Mountain
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Thank you.
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