Published: October 29, 2007 11:44 pm      

Evidence revealed in Carter slayings

Detective: DNA, cell phone records tie Drown to murders

GRAYSON — EDITOR’S NOTE: This story contains information that some readers may find offensive.

DNA evidence and cell phone records conclusively link a convicted sex offender from West Virginia to the slayings of a Carter County nurse and her two young daughters, a Kentucky State Police detective testified Monday.

At a bond hearing in Carter Circuit Court, Detective Jim Goble said Robert Lee Drown Jr., 27, first surfaced as a suspect in the murders of Jennifer Ison and her daughters, Shannah Ison, 10, and Marissa Ison, 3, after a review of Jennifer Ison’s cell phone records showed a series of calls between her and Drown had taken place the night before the victim’s bodies were found in their burned-out mobile home on Canoe Run, in the Hitchins area.

Goble also testified investigators learned Drown and Ison had met three days prior to the slayings at a bar in Kenova, and a co-worker of Ison’s had told police Ison confided in her she and Drown had had a sexual encounter, which the suspect later confirmed in an interview with detectives.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Drown, who has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder, and to charges of rape, arson and burglary. Authorities believe Drown killed Ison, 31, a labor and delivery nurse at Cabell Huntington Hospital, and her daughters, then doused their home with a flammable liquid and set it on fire to cover up the crime.

As the bodies of the victims were being removed from the rubble, detectives noticed a large amount of blood on Shannah Ison’s upper thigh area, which led them to conclude the youngster had been “violently” raped, Goble said. A rape kit analysis confirmed their suspicion, he said.

DNA analysis was performed at the KSP Crime Lab in Frankfort on semen taken from Shannah Ison’s body and on a DNA sample taken from Drown, Goble said. The results showed odds of the semen belonging to anyone other than Drown were one in 6.6 million, he said.

According to Goble, the first indication authorities had that foul play was involved in the deaths of the three victims came when Detective Rodney Carroll, the arson investigator for the Ashland KSP post, noticed Jennifer Ison had an electrical cord wrapped around her neck.

Detectives also found a bloody knife underneath Jennifer Ison’s body, which was located in the kitchen area of her home, Goble said. The woman had been stabbed above her left breast and her throat had been cut, he said. However, an autopsy revealed she died of strangulation.

Shannah Ison died of blunt-force head trauma and Marissa Ison died of smoke inhalation, Goble said. Both girls’ bodies were found in their bedrooms.

Following the slayings, Goble said detectives interviewed Jennifer Ison’s co-workers at Cabell Huntington in an attempt to find out if Ison, who was divorced, had been dating anyone. One of them, Dawn Phelps, told the KSP that she, her boyfriend and Ison had gone together to the Raging Bull bar in Kenova the night of May 6. According to Phelps, that was where Ison met Drown, the detective said.

Phelps told investigators the four left the bar together and went to Phelps’ home, where Drown and Ison both spent the night. Phelps said Ison later told her she and Drown had been intimate that night.

Drown, whom Goble said had a criminal record — which included convictions for rape, burglary, sexual abuse and drug possession — was initially arrested on a charge of failing to register as a sex offender in West Virginia. When KSP detectives spoke to him at the Huntington detachment of the West Virginia State Police, he initially denied being in Carter County the night of the slayings, Goble said.

Drown’s cell phone records, though, told a much different story, the detective said.

“A good majority of his calls were popping up on towers in Kentucky,” he said. “Each call slowly worked him into Kentucky until the last call shows him in Grayson.”

Drown eventually admitted he had, indeed, been in Carter County the night Ison and her daughters were killed, but he denied having been to their home, Goble said. Drown told investigators he had been intoxicated that night, had driven around for awhile, then passed out for about 90 minutes, awaken and driven back to West Virginia, the detective testified.

However, Goble said the timeline laid out by the suspect in the interview did not jibe with his cell phone records.

Also, Drown told detectives he remembered seeing a church while he was driving around, and the description of the building he gave was a near-identical match to a church within walking distance of the Ison residence, Goble said.

Drown also confirmed Phelps’ account of the meeting at the Raging Bull and acknowledged having sex with Jennifer Ison, Goble said.

While detectives don’t know what was said in the cell phone conversations between Drown and Jennifer Ison, they believe he was going to see her again and she was directing him to her residence, Goble said.

Judge Rebecca Phillips denied bond for Drown, ruling that Commonwealth’s Attorney David Flatt had satisfied the burden of proof necessary for the suspect to continue to be held without bail.

Phillips also scheduled another pretrial hearing in the case for 8:30 a.m. Dec. 17.

Drown’s attorney, public defender Theodore Shouse, indicated he planned to seek a change of venue for Drown’s trial because of the publicity the case has received. Flatt said he wouldn’t oppose such a motion because he believed a venue change would be proper in the case.

KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.