 A man has been arrested in connection to a Lawrence County double-murderer. A murderer was sentenced in Pike County and an arrest has been made in a deadly hit-and-run in Pike County. And it all happened this week. Welcome everyone to This Week. I'm Shawn Allen. For the next half hour, we'll catch you up on news you may have missed and give you updates on the week that was in your hometown. Monday, we told you about the shooting deaths of two people in an isolated section of Lawrence County. Tuesday, a man was charged with two counts of murder. 21-year-old Eldon Shannon Munsey of Martin County was arrested by Kentucky State Police. Munsey is accused of killing 50-year-old Mary Evan Smith and 35-year-old Brandy Sherman Blevins. Evan Smith was found in her home on Yellow Creek Road, dead of a single gunshot wound. Blevins' body was found on the porch of a neighboring home, the victim of multiple gunshot wounds. Police responded to the Evan Smith residence late Sunday night after a woman called 911 to report of being in fear of a man in her yard yelling threats at her home. Police are not releasing many details of their investigation, but they do say they obtained evidence linking Munsey to the crime from previous interactions with the victims. Munsey is being held without bond in the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center. The case remains under investigation. While the rest of us were finishing up our Thanksgiving meals or perhaps getting ready for some early Christmas shopping, police say one man was terrorizing a store clerk. The Phelps Double Quick was the target of an armed robber Thursday evening. The man shown on your screen entered the store, pointed a gun at the clerk and demanded money. He then made his escape on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash. Kentucky State Police is asking anyone with information about the incident to call them at 606-433-7711. Callers can remain anonymous. In July, Ronald and Loretta Wright pleaded guilty to charges in the 2013 murder of Famer Halbert with Ronald pleading guilty to murder, wanton endangerment, assault, and Loretta pleading guilty to facilitation of murder. The pair was scheduled to be sentenced in late October, but as Ronald Wright appeared before Judge Thomas Smith, he requested his attorney Jerry Patton be relieved of his duties and that he be allowed to rescind his guilty plea. In court, Ronald Wright and his new attorney argued that he was coerced into the admission of guilt stating that his former attorney Jerry Patton told him that his wife would get a lesser punishment if he pleaded guilty. The Commonwealth requested that since he had already admitted to his guilt in court and signed a plea agreement that the original recommendation be honored. Judge Thomas Smith did so and sentenced Ronald Wright to 25 years in prison. Famer Halbert's wife Lorraine says she and the family finally have a little peace. It eases their minds knowing that he's going to be gone to prison, that we'll never have to face him again, and the kids will never have to be scared of him or Loretta or me, I'll never be scared of him. I'll never forget him. I mean, I know I have to before I can go to heaven, but maybe on my dime bed then I, you know, bag to be forgiven, to forgive him. I mean, it's hard, you know, knowing what they've done, you know, you can't, the Loretta get them, you know, what they've done. They're going to have to face him on their judgment day, what they've done. Ronald Wright must serve 85% of his 25-year sentence before becoming eligible for parole. A man wanted for fling from a fatal crash in Pike County earlier this year was captured this week. 28-year-old Jerry D. Shields of Virginia was arrested Wednesday evening at a residence on Billips Drive in Pikeville. Shields was indicted in May after allegedly being involved in a crash that resulted in the death of Paul Newsom. Officials said Shields' vehicle collided with Newsom's vehicle, and Shields fled the scene on foot. Newsom died several days later from his injuries. Shields is facing a felony charge of leaving the scene of an accident. He was arrested in another state earlier this year, but officials in Pike County declined to extradite him back to Kentucky. He is currently launched in the Pike County Detention Center. A Floyd County man is facing animal cruelty charges after shooting his brother's dog. Kentucky State Police received a call Sunday from Freddie Atkins who said that his brother shot and killed his dog. Troopers arrived at Freddie's residence in Gretel where he told officers that he had walked to his brother's house and found his dog lying dead in the grass at the edge of the driveway. Troopers then spoke with Freddie's brother. 51-year-old Terry Atkins who allegedly admitted to shooting the dog. He went on to claim the dog took a shoe from his porch and that's when he went inside and grabbed a .22 caliber rifle and shot the dog as it was leaving his property. Terry Atkins was arrested and charged with second degree cruelty to animals which is a class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $500 fine. A case involving a church bus allegedly stolen in Pike County is growing more complicated with allegations against a Floyd County couple continuing to mount. EKB news reporter Shannon Deskins breaks it all down for us. The case against a Floyd County couple accused of stealing from a Pikeville church continues to develop. According to an indictment handed down last week by Pike County grand jury John and Michelle Allen allegedly obtained lines of credit and credit cards in the name of the First Presbyterian Church of Pikeville where they both were employed and purchased items totaling more than $10,000. On Monday several thousand dollars worth of items were recovered by the Pikeville police department and returned to the church. And with these recoveries Pike Commonwealth's attorney Rick Bartley says there is the possibility of additional charges. As the police continue investigating I think they are finding additional items and additional things and now they're starting to recover some of those. So the city police have done an excellent job in this case and I think there probably will be other evidence now whether that will result in additional charges we'll just have to look at that once we get everything in. John Allen was arrested last week after the pair was accused of shoplifting at the South Williamson Food City and remains lodged in the Pike County Detention Center. Michelle Allen is now wanted by the police because of the felony charge of theft by deception that she is facing in the indictment. Bartley says the longer Michelle Allen remains on the run the less likely it will be that his office will be willing to work with her when she does eventually appear in court. Anybody that does not turn themselves in that has to be brought in forcibly we almost always tell the judge we think they're a flat risk because look how we had to get them in here and when it comes time to work out the ultimate disposition on charges we generally take into consideration again how hard was it to get them in here. EKB News spoke to Michelle Allen's attorney and asked if she was planning to turn herself in however she declined to comment on the matter. In Pikeville, I'm Shannon Deskins, EKB News. When Pike County tax bills came out this month many residents were shocked to see the significant increase. Officials attempted to explain to the upset crowd that the matter was out of their hands and was due to a change in Frankfort that is forcing local taxpayers to make up almost $370 million in lost revenue. The revenue cabinet drastically slashed assessments for oil, minerals and un mined coal giving the companies holding those assets a steep tax cut while passing the bill on to the taxpayers. The Department of Revenue had reassessed the un mined minerals and the natural gas and given those big companies, most of them rather large coal companies, a $400 million decrease. That's $400 million they didn't have to pay taxes on any more. Coming up, we'll take a ride on the Senate. Coming up next on This Week. Arteries are the body's highway. It's the job of a vascular surgeon to keep them free and clear. Pikeville Medical Center's vascular surgeons Dr. Al Adasi and Dr. Nancy Clark provide comprehensive treatment for circulatory disorders specializing in limb salvage, aortic disease, carotid artery disease, dialysis and varicose veins. Find out if you are a candidate for vascular screenings. Call 606-218-2202. Pikeville Medical Center, Mayo Clinic Care Network member. Looking for an amazing gift for that special lady or man in your life or maybe you just like to treat yourself to a classic piece of jewelry or the latest pandora ring or bracelet? Let Hefner's Jewelers help you find exactly what you're looking for from classic time pieces to the perfect engagement ring. Hefner's Jewelers is here for you. Hefner's Jewelers, three generations of exceptional quality in the Weddington Plaza of Pikeville. For the clearest, most up-to-date look at your weather, check out the EKB Weather Cam. Brought to you by American Heating and Cooling. Get a bird's eye view of the skies above Pikeville. Rain or shine day or night, watch for the EKB Weather Cam every day at six and ten. Brought to you by American Heating and Cooling. Hey, Tom Russell, Jerome Andrew, Cardinal Automotive, your old friend in hazard. I don't want to get on TV and sound like every other car dealer out there and tell you we're over stock, but we are. So I'm just going to say it like this. So get down here while the selection is good. We're at a critical point and these units have to go. So now's the perfect time to save thousands and come see your old friends at Cardinal Automotive. The Santa Train fired up its engines again this year for the 75th time. The EKB news team and reporter Chris Anderson were track-side to once again greet jolly old St. Nick as he made his way through Appalachia. This past Saturday, the CSX Santa Train arrived again, just as it has for the past 74 years. This year's running of the Santa Train marked the 75th anniversary. As always, large crowds greeted the train as it passed through Pike County in Kentucky and communities in Virginia and Tennessee. Those crowds were greeted back by two vintage locomotives on the front of the train, including the former Clinchfield Railroad number 800. The sleek streamlined engine was the first diesel-electric locomotive ever owned by the former Clinchfield Railroad. Now a part of CSX and the original railroad to run the Santa Train. The engine was painted back into its original Clinchfield paint specifically for the Santa Train and was paired with another vintage locomotive sporting full Clinchfield dress. They came out to see the train just as they had for years on end. Others were coming out for the very first time. It seems pretty cool so far. He likes trains, so this is definitely something he enjoys. I think he'll be excited to see Santa Claus. Oh yeah. Most of it. They just love it. They love seeing him. They love everything about him. He's a leader to him right now. They make the Christmas list every year, so when they get this chance to see him, they love it. Another Santa Train first-timer was country music legend Ricky Skaggs, who in addition to the Clinchfield 800, was this year's celebrity guest. It is a milestone year and getting to see the engines that's pulling the car all refurbished and repainted and they're beautiful. The time of year, the giving part, the Bible tells us that it's more blessed to give than to receive. So we're the ones that got the blessing. They may have got the stuffed toys, but we got the blessing. That was the special part. All told, more than 13 tons of gifts were given out on Santa Train Day, but not everyone planned to keep those gifts. One young man from Pikeville said he planned to donate the stuffed animals he collected to a local homeless shelter. It was nice to do that stuff and stuff like that. It's nice to donate stuff if nobody has no stuff and stuff like that. And that spirit of giving was alive and well throughout the crowd on Santa Train Day. From along the route of the world-famous CSX Santa Train, with the EKB news team, I'm Chris Anderson for EKB News. A dark cloud that always hovers over the Santa Train is the speculation that the current year's train could be the last. Railroad historian and Santa Train volunteer Ron Flannery recently told EKB News that is not the case. Flannery was involved in the effort to have a vintage locomotive lead this year's Santa Train, and he said his work on the project gave him confidence in CSX's commitment to the event. I know there have been lots of rumors that it's going to be the last train, and it's certainly not going to be the last train. So I sense a real commitment on the company's part to continue this tradition. They realize that they have a very unique and very iconic operation, and it draws very positive PR to their company. Plus, they have a long-term commitment to this region, and so I'm very encouraged by what I heard. The Santa Train is a joint venture of CSX, the Kingsport, Tennessee Area Chamber of Commerce and Food City. It runs each and every year, the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Matt Hawkins is coming up with weather, and Andrew Joyce will begin with a look back at the weekend sports when this week returns. Arteries are the body's highway. It's our job to keep them free and clear. Pikeville Medical Center's vascular surgeons Dr. Al Adasi and Dr. Nancy Clark provide comprehensive treatment for circulatory disorders, specializing in limb salvage, aortic disease, carotid artery disease, dialysis, and varicose veins. Find out if you are a candidate for vascular screenings. Call 606-218-2202. Pikeville Medical Center, Mayo Clinic Care Network member. Eastern Kentucky, beautiful, green, peaceful, friendly. But there's a darker side to these mountains. When crime is committed, sometimes cases go unsolved. Occasionally, the perpetrators even get away with murder. On our latest news segment, The Scene of the Crime, I'll be working with local law enforcement to help find justice for victims and their families. The Scene of the Crime, Fridays at 6 and 10. Brought to you by Billy Johnson, your injury attorney. Well, we've seen some cold nights and even some cold days in this past week. We're not going to see much of that in the coming week. For the most part, mild during the day, still having some chilly nights, nothing getting below freezing, but chilly nonetheless. Let's take a look at that for actually for Sunday. We'll have abundant clouds and sunshine, kind of a mix there. The high only getting to the lower 50s. Overnight low is expected in the mid 30s, so we are on the chilly side, not freezing. We'll warm up just a little bit on Monday with plenty of sunshine and a high near 60. We'll see that top over 60 in the lower 60s on Tuesday with the same conditions that the overnight lows still in those 30s the night before. Now we'll see a significant change in the overnight temperature being a little bit warmer, hanging out mostly in the low 40s. We've done seasonably mild temperatures with sunshine as a part of this warmer front that is moving through the area. It moves through rather slowly as it takes about three or four days to get through, bringing with it on the tail end some rainfall. Significant rainfall, more significant that we have seen in recent days, about a 60% chance for Thursday and for Friday. But we'll see a cooling off as we head into next weekend of those daytime temperatures. Upper 40s, lower 50s and overnight lows starting to get back down into the more chillier regions as the weekend starts for next weekend. This weekend's sports we saw teams prepare for semifinal playoff action. The Pikeville Panthers returned to the state semifinals for the first time since 2015, their state championship run. They won at the Raceland Rams. Pikeville coach Chris McNally provided a preview of the matchup. Well, just extremely well coached team. They're not going to do anything to hurt themselves. They played a great schedule this year and got to be by Painsville, Somerset, Ashland and Portsmouth West for a good football team. So they're a really good defense. We fly around the football, do enough offensively to get wins. We go down and just do what we've been doing here. Defensively play hard, get people to the football. Offensively take care of the ball and just kind of, you know, last week we said we're going to go in and play to win. You know, we're going to call plays to win. Our guys we wanted to execute regardless of the situation. And that's kind of attitude we have to have this week too. We kind of break the season up into three parts and the last five games are our last third. You know, and we just, it's kind of corny, but, you know, we break it out on five weeks when we started to play off. And it was four weeks, three, and now this week we're breaking it out on two weeks. That's the most football that we're allowed to play. So we're just taking it day by day and joining it. You know, of course we're happy for this year's team and the seniors here, Jake Wilkerson and Zeich Hamilton and White and those guys and what they've done. But, you know, it just kind of makes you feel good about these guys coming back too. And they get another season, another year in the off season and what we could do next year. But we're all focused on wrestling this week and we're just going to give everything we have. Now, Pikeville at Raceland is the EKB TV game of the week. It replays Saturday at seven and Sunday at four and 8.30. The University of Pikeville Bears men's basketball team is off to a 10-0 start and ranked 14th in the nation. This week we had a chance to catch up with head coach Kelly Wells about the start to the season. What's better to be 10-0 than anything else at this point. So you got to win your first 10 to win them all. And, you know, we've learned a lot throughout this growth process. The 11 new guys and some returners, every look is new. So a lot of teaching moments. But I've been really proud of the progress, especially defensively for this group. I know our offense will grow. Our defense is way ahead of our offense right now. And that's typical. That's normal. But to see them being so willing to guard and to rebound, those are usually the two hardest things to get kids to do. So that's encouraging to me. Hopefully our offense will continue to develop and will continue to get better. We've built a nice tradition there. You know, it means so much for our kids to turn around and see a great fan base. And it's great basketball. Our men's and women's team are doing great. Both teams should be ranked nationally. It's just a great product we put on the floor. Now, UPIKE is back in action. Friday, December 1st at the Expo, the first of a seven-game home span. Now, those are the big stories this week in sports. Arteries are the body's highway. It's our job to keep them free and clear. Pikeville Medical Center's vascular surgeons, Dr. Al Adassi and Dr. Nancy Clark provide comprehensive treatment for circulatory disorders, specializing in limb salvage, aortic disease, carotid artery disease, dialysis, and varicose veins. Find out if you are a candidate for vascular screenings. Call 606-218-2202. Pikeville Medical Center, Mayo Clinic Care Network member. Is that a mashed potato volcano? Nice. We have over 150 choices, but the only one that matters is yours. Golden Corral, your choice rules. Find exactly what you're looking for from classic timepieces to the perfect engagement ring. Hefner's Jewelers is here for you. Hefner's Jewelers, three generations of exceptional quality. In the Weddington Plaza, Pikeville. This holiday season, enjoy all that Prestonsburg has to offer. The whole family will love the Christmas lights in Archer Park, the annual Winter Carnival, and these festive shows at the Mac. Christmas with Cory Cottle, the Nutcracker, the Kentucky Opry Christmas Show, and the Johnson Central High School Christmas Concert. Get into the Christmas spirit this season in Prestonsburg. Kentucky Power has filed a proposed settlement of its rate hike request, which if approved would see the company see increased revenues of about half of what it had originally been asking. The proposed settlement agreement is between Kentucky Power and most of the parties who had filed to intervene in the case. Under the terms of the settlement, residential customers would see their rates increase 9%. That is down from the 16% Kentucky Power had at first been seeking. The settlement would also prevent the utility from seeking additional rate increases until at least 2021. Notably absent from the agreement is the Office of the Attorney General and Kentucky Commercial Utility Customers Incorporated. The settlement must still be approved by the Kentucky Public Service Commission. There is a musical tradition here unlike anywhere else in America. During this week, we shine a light on part of that musical tradition. So now sit back, relax, and enjoy our Mountain Music. The main stage of the Country Music Highland. I always listened to Dr. Ralph and he was a big influence, him and his brother Carter. Not only that, but North and Virginia, there was Doc Boggs and Kate Peter Sturgill. My friend Tyler, he is from Big Stone Gap and people like Sturgill Simpson and David Prince. It's very interesting to go search these songs out. My family has said that I'm a lot like A.P. Carter and the fact that I like to wonder. I like to go find songs, other people have written, I like to write songs. It's all a journey to me. That song is called Carolina and I wrote that while I was at Myrtle Beach this past year. I was laying on the beach and I was thinking about my family and my friends. Everybody has helped me along the way up to this point and I miss them. So it's kind of an ode to my friends and family and everybody else. Sometimes you need more advanced care and it's good to know you can get it right here at home. Pikeville Medical Center has doctors in most specialties ready and waiting to take care of you and your loved ones. It can be scary to hear that your doctor or local hospital needs to transfer you somewhere else. So if that happens, ask about Pikeville Medical Center first. You don't need to go to Lexington, Charleston or Kingsport when Pikeville Medical Center offers most specialties. And as a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network has the expertise of Mayo Clinic available to you as well. Pikeville Medical Center, the specialists are here. Get a bird's eye view of the skies above Pikeville. Rain or shine day or night, watch for the EKB Weather Cam every day at 6 and 10. Brought to you by American Heating and Cooling. I hope you enjoyed our look back at some of the stories that made headlines this week. Be sure to tune in next weekend right here at 6.30 p.m. on EKB TV. For this week I'm Sean Allen. Have a great weekend.