BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
ASHLAND — Rumors continue to surface about events leading up to a police shootout that ended accused murderer David Maynard’s life Sunday morning in Ceredo, West Virginia. Trooper Shane Goodall with the Kentucky State Police Post 14 Ashland put some speculation to rest Sunday evening while raising a concern for which the KSP is asking for help.
Maynard, 54, of Ohio, faced his final moments around 3:06 a.m. Sunday at the Cabell-Huntington Hospital. This followed a tense hostage situation at a Ceredo gas station where Maynard held a cashier and two customers captive starting around 12:15 a.m. Although he released the two customers, he kept the cashier. The standoff climaxed when he came to the gas station door and fired on the police, who returned fire, injuring him.
Before this standoff, Maynard evaded the police across multiple states. His criminal spree began in Ironton, Ohio, when police responded to shots fired Friday. Police found Maynard’s ex-girlfriend tied up with an electrical extension cord and his stepfather shot to death. Subsequently, Ironton police issued a murder warrant for Maynard’s arrest.
On Saturday, he was in Kentucky, where he kidnapped a woman and her white SUV at a Carter County rest stop.
“We have him on video in the Louisa Dollar General parking lot between 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.,” Goodall said. However, despite contrasting reports, Maynard did not enter the store.
Goodall shed light on reports that Maynard released his first hostage and vehicle in Louisa before kidnapping a second woman.
“We cannot verify that someone has been abducted,” he remarked. “After he left that parking lot, he drove about a quarter-mile up the road to Tower Hill Drive. That is the last known place he was seen by the abductee.”
The woman from Carter County was bound and covered and could not see anything.
“He got out of the vehicle there,” said Goodall. “She thought she heard him talking to a female, and then he was gone.”
According to Goodall, officers inspected every residence on Tower Hill Drive, a cul-de-sac, and accounted for all its inhabitants.
The KSP’s major apprehension pertains to the uncertainty surrounding Maynard’s journey from Tower Hill Drive to the Ceredo-Kenova region by around 5 p.m. The predominant anxiety is whether Maynard, capitalizing on the unsuspecting goodwill of a local, might have inflicted harm upon someone offering him a lift.
“We are asking if anyone saw Maynard between 3:30 and 5 p.m.,” Goodall said. “We don’t know, but if they did, we would appreciate them letting us know they are OK. Then we can determine that there’s nothing illegal and nobody is missing or hurt that we need to worry about … He terrorized a lot of people, and what scares us now is we can’t get that timeline put together of where he was.”
The officer stated that to date, authorities have not found any vehicle in Ceredo or Kentucky that Maynard may have discarded.
The KSP has been deluged with tips and reports since the onset of the saga. One report that Maynard was on Route 645 and Route 3 in Martin County led officers to Inez around 5 p.m. Saturday. They were on-scene on Route 645 when they got the call saying Maynard had just been spotted in Kenova.
“There’s no sign that he was ever in any of those areas,” said Goodall.
He also dispelled widespread reports about a body found at a West Virginia swimming pool and another about a body found inside a car in Wayne County.
“I spoke to the chief of police in Ceredo,” he confirmed. “There has been no body located anywhere.”
With Maynard appearing in three separate states and multiple counties, Goodall said there had been “a lot of back and forth between the agencies trying to assemble everything.”
Maynard had a criminal history. He served 30 years in prison in Lawrence County, Ohio, for a 1989 aggravated murder and robbery. He began serving two 20-years-to-life sentences in 1989 and was released on parole in November 2019.
Goodall urges anyone who saw Maynard between 3:30 and 5 p.m. Saturday or who gave him a ride to contact the KSP at 606-928-6421 or 606-694-5648 and let them know.