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Murderers' Sex with Victim J.R. Warren is Revealed

Report Said to Show Killers' Bias Played Major Role

West Virginia Lawmen Insisting Hate Played No Part

Compiled By GayToday

Grant Town, West.Virginia�Gay and lesbian activists urged Friday that an honest investigation take place into the murder of 26-year-old Arthur "J.R." Carl Warren Jr. as a news report emerged that squarely contradicted local law enforcement's claim that racial and anti-gay bias played no role in his death.

Arthur "J.R." Carl Warren Jr.

According to the Associated Press, Warren Jr., who is African American, was beaten to death because he wanted to reveal a sexual relationship he claimed to have had with the teen-agers accused of his murder.

"If this report is confirmed, then it is clear that anti-gay prejudice played a decisive role in this murder," said HRC Communications Director David M. Smith. "We believe as the facts continue to unfold, a portrait will emerge showing how underlying homophobia and racial bias led to this tragedy."

Warren Jr., whose body was found July 4, had left his parents' house and walked across town on July 3 to a vacant house where two 17-year-old boys -- David Allen Parker and Jared Wilson -- beat and kicked him to death, according to local law enforcement officials.

After putting Warren's body into the trunk of a car, the two teens drove a mile east of Grant Town, laid his body on the ground and then drove over it several times in an attempt to stage a hit-and-run accident. The alleged perpetrators later burned their bloody clothes, the officials said.

A 15-year-old boy, who witnessed the murder, confessed to his mother and to the police that he had seen the killing and helped the other boys clean up the murder scene, the officials said.

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But while evidence squarely points to a hate crime, Marion County (W.Va.) Sheriff Ron Watkins and Prosecutor G. Richard Bunner have persistently said they believe hate was not a factor.

The alleged perpetrators have been charged with first-degree murder, according to Chip Phillips, a detective with the sheriff's department and they appeared in a Marion County courtroom Wednesday for their preliminary hearing, after which Circuit Judge Rodney Merrifield ruled there was probable cause to pursue the charges against them.

Bunner has not yet filed a petition to have the boys tried as adults, but that move is expected within the next few weeks, according to the AP report. Parker is being held at a juvenile detention facility in Parkersburg, while Wilson is being held in Wheeling.

A candlelight vigil took place on Tuesday at the county's community courthouse in Fairmont, West Virginia.

Brenda Warren told The Charleston Gazette that her son was "constantly being picked on and harassed," but did not know why he was murdered.

According to Angela Dunlap, a board member of the West Virginia Lesbian and Gay Coalition, Warren had spoken to her last year about being intimidated and attacked various times by unidentified high school boys in Grant Town.