Former Parkersburg Police Chief and author Robert Newell spoke to a crowd gathered at the Parkersburg and Wood County Public Library on Thursday about the history of violent crime in the Mid-Ohio Valley over the past decades including murders, kidnappings, female predators, organized crime, and the drug trade beginning in the 1960s through present day. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

PARKERSBURG — The Parkersburg and Wood County Public Library hosted “An Evening with Bob Newell” Thursday night where the former Parkersburg Police Chief, and author, spoke about the history of violent crime in the Mid-Ohio Valley — including murders, kidnappings, female predators, organized crime, and the drug trade beginning in the 1960s through present day.

“I’d like to thank the library for a couple reasons,” Newell said. “First of all, for hosting, but second of all for having the newspaper archive. Even though a lot of these cases I’ve worked there were still dates and so forth I had even had to look up. The library is a great resource. It really is.”

Newell, who was a detective and Narcotics Task Force Agent for the Parkersburg Police Department before becoming the chief of police and later mayor, has written two books on the subject entitled “Violence in the Valley” and “…As I walk Through the Valley of Meth…” where he talks about some of the more violent and memorable cases he saw during his time on the police force.

Newell said Parkersburg was a much more violent place in the 70s and 80s than it is now but said the drug problem wasn’t what it is today.

“I will say the drug problem (today) is blowing clear out from what we had to deal with back in those days,” Newell said.

Former Parkersburg Police Chief and author Robert Newell talked with people at the Parkersburg and Wood County Public Library on Thursday after discussing the history of violent crime in the Mid-Ohio Valley. Newell has written two books on the subject entitled “Violence in the Valley” and “...As I walk Through the Valley of Meth...”. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

Newell went on to talk about some of the cases in his books. There was the shooting death of David Curd in 1985 where his body was found on the front lawn of Parkersburg High School. The shooting was over a drug deal gone bad. Newell credits this as the catalyst for future drug investigations and was the springboard for the newly formed Special Investigations Unit.

“It was late in the game when we had our first drug raid. We didn’t have a full-time drug unit in Wood County until we started in ’85 with the Parkersburg Police Special Investigations Unit,” Newell said. “Which is now the Narcotic Task Force.”

Newell opened things up for questions and one person in attendance asked about the decapitation murder of Charles Marsh in 1979.

“It was revenge,” Newell replied. “It was drug related but it was revenge.”

Newell said Marsh and another individual were involved in a drug deal in Florida that had gone bad and Marsh left the other person there.

Newell said if he could take back any form of technology from today to help him with his cases when he was a detective it would be the automatic fingerprint database and DNA testing.

Newell’s books are available on AmazonBooks.com and he can be heard hosting his podcast “Violence in the Valley” on the IHeart App.

Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com