CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Marco Chapman, the Cabin Creek native charged with stabbing two young children to death in Warsaw, Ky., had a knife in his blood-soaked shoes after his arrest and during his arraignment.

        The knife, which was “about the size of a set of fingernail clippers,” was not discovered until Mr. Chapman kicked off his shoes at the jail, Kanawha County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. J.S. Bailes said Friday.

Chapman

        Sgt. Bailes said he could “say with a degree of certainty that it was not the knife used in the murders.”

        Deputies arrested Mr. Chapman about 12:30 p.m. Aug. 23 in Shrewsbury, six hours after he allegedly broke into the Warsaw home of 37-year-old Carolyn Marksberry.

        Chelbi Sharon, 7, and Cody Sharon, 6, were killed in the knife attack. Mrs. Marksberry, who suffered 15 stab wounds, and her third child, Courtney Sharon, 10, survived.

        Sgt. Bailes said deputies “thoroughly checked” Mr. Chapman for weapons when they arrested him, and “he was found to be unarmed.”

        Deputies wanted Mr. Chapman's bloody shoes for evidence, Sgt. Bailes said, so they “minimized handling” of them. They couldn't remove Mr. Chapman's shoes before he got to the jail, Sgt. Bailes said, because he had no other shoes to wear.

        When Mr. Chapman kicked off his shoes at the jail, the knife fell out, Sgt. Bailes said. Sheriff's detectives turned it and Mr. Chapman's shoes and socks over to Kentucky State Police.

        Mr. Chapman is awaiting trial in Gallatin County. He is being held at the Carroll County Jail in lieu of $50 million bond.

        “The benefits of the recovery of the shoes far outweighed any security risk we may have had,” Sgt. Bailes said. “We didn't think there was a security risk, because he was restrained the entire time he was in custody, and he was heavily guarded.”

        Sgt. Bailes said the sheriff's department never mentioned anything about the knife or the bloody shoes, because “we were afraid it might jeopardize the case.”

Frailey braces for move to CPS
Frailey's arrival eagerly awaited
Crime falls, jitters intensify in airport vigilance
Cries of anguish, hymns of hope
Church builds 'A Tower of Hope'
Special services focus on healing, hope - and even on forgiveness
Tristate events mark Sept. 11
Three wrecks, two deaths
Carroll: Cash in on casinos
For a few days, all are German
Obituary: Dr. Robert Kalthoff built data tracker
Test exposes leaders' types
Tristate A.M. Report
BRONSON: Men only
CROWLEY: Mudslinging
HOWARD: Some Good News
PULFER: A special empathy
SMITH AMOS: Twitty case
Bristol's dancer guilty of prostitution
Prepaid tuition plan finds itself in the red
Chapman hid knife in his shoe