A Cape Cod man is charged with hacking another hiker to death with a machete along the Appalachian Trail in western Virginia. Cops arrested James L. Jordan 30, of West Yarmouth, early Saturday morning on charges of murder and attempted murder shortly after a stabbing that left one person dead and another severely injured in Wythe County, Va. He will be arraigned Monday morning in federal court in Abingdon, Va. on charges for “this senseless and brutal attack,” said the U.S. Attorney for western Virginia in a statement. Wythe County Sheriff Keith Dunagan told a local TV news station investigators are still searching the trail, worried that there may be more victims. Jordan faces other charges after separate altercations on the Appalachian Trail last month, during which the cops say he threatened hikers in North Carolina and Tennessee with a machete. He is also known by his trail name “Sovereign,” according to Unicoi County, Tenn., Sheriff Michael K. Hensley, who confirmed on Facebook that the same person is suspected in these various crimes.<doc-sep>Crime & Safety Cape Cod Man Charged With Murder On Appalachian Trail Authorities said the 30-year-old killed one hiker and severely injured another in a knife attack on the trail. Reply A Cape Cod man has been charged in a deadly knife attack in Virginia. (Shutterstock) WYTHE COUNTY, VA — A Cape Cod man has been charged in a stabbing attack that left one person dead and another severely injured on the Appalachian Trail. James Jordan, 30, of West Yarmouth, was arrested early Saturday morning. He faces federal charges of murder within the special maritime territorial jurisdiction of the United States and assault with the intent to murder within the special maritime territorial jurisdiction of the United States. "I commend local law enforcement in Wythe and Smyth Counties for mobilizing successful rescue and tactical operations in this remote region," U.S. Attorney Thomas Cullen stated today. "Thanks to their efforts, the suspect was safely apprehended and a seriously wounded victim received critical medical care. We will continue to work with our state and local partners to bring the perpetrator of this senseless and brutal attack to justice." Two hikers reported Saturday that a man with a machete was attacking people on the trail, and a man and woman were injured, authorities said. Police arrested a man that same day.<doc-sep>ABINGTON, VIRGINIA — A West Yarmouth man is being charged in a stabbing along the Appalachian Trail in Wythe County, Virginia, that left one person dead and another with severe injuries, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia. James Jordan, 30, was arrested Saturday morning on a federal complaint and is being charged with one count of murder within the special maritime territorial jurisdiction of the United States, and one count of assault with intent to murder within the special maritime territorial jurisdiction of the United States, the statement says. Officials with the FBI’s Richmond Division announced the arrest and charges Sunday. “I commend local law enforcement in Wythe and Smyth Counties for mobilizing successful rescue and tactical operations in this remote region,” U.S. Attorney Thomas T. Cullen said in a statement. “Thanks to their efforts, the suspect was safely apprehended and a seriously wounded victim received critical medical care.” The Wythe County Sheriff's Office said in a statement Saturday that two hikers reported a man with a machete was attacking people. The federal release doesn't identify the weapon but describes the attack as a "deadly stabbing." Cullen said officials “will continue to work with ... state and local partners to bring the perpetrator of this senseless and brutal attack to justice.” The federal charges against Jordan will be filed in the U.S. District Court in Abingdon on Monday, and he is expected to appear in court that same day, the statement said. Further details were not immediately available Sunday from federal officials, but the investigation is ongoing, the statement said. Completed in 1937, the Appalachian National Scenic Trail — a public footpath stretching 2,190 miles from Georgia to Maine — is managed by the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, numerous state agencies and thousands of volunteers. Jordan was known within the trail hiking community as “Sovereign,” Brian King, a spokesperson for the conservancy, said. “It’s trail culture — 99 percent of (hikers) have trail names,” King said. “They’re sort of like online avatars. A lot of times hikers can go … months hiking and never know their friends’ real names.” Several hikers began broadcasting complaints using social media and the trail’s incident reporting system about someone who had threatened them with an ax, King said. Jordan also had a dog with him, he said. Jordan was arrested late April in connection with those complaints, though King said he didn’t physically assault anyone “that we know of.” “But it was scary that they felt they had to report it,” he said. Jordan previously admitted sufficient facts to indecent exposure, disorderly conduct and two counts of assault and battery and vandalism on June 7 and 8, 2013, in Barnstable District Court, for an incident in Barnstable. According to Twitter posts from the conservancy beginning Saturday, the U.S. Forest Service was investigating an incident on the trail between Mt. Rogers and Ceres, Virginia, and that the trail had been closed down for that stretch. The trail closure was lifted Sunday, according to the Twitter posts. The National Park Service is the lead agency investigating the matter, according to Corrine Geller, a spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police Department. Between 3- and 4-million people hike the trail, or parts of it, every year, according to King. Including Saturday’s killing, there have been 10 fatalities resulting from eight homicide incidents on the trail, he said. King stressed that the trail is very safe. “There’s normally safety in numbers, which is a good part of hiking the trail,” he said. — Follow Tanner Stening on Twitter: @tsteningCCT. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.<doc-sep>James L. Jordan, the Massachusetts man accused of killing one person and severely injuring a second person on the Appalachian Trail in Virginia, was known to threaten hikers, according to a recently unsealed affidavit in federal court. Jordan, of West Yarmouth, is facing charges of murder and assault with intent to commit murder in a Virginia federal court today. FBI Agent Micah Childers said on Friday, Jordan approached four hikers in Smyth County, Virginia on the Appalachian Trail located within the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest. “Jordan was known by the hikers as a suspicious person through social media as a result of an incident in April 2019 in Unicoi County, Tennessee, in which Jordan had allegedly threatened hikers on the Appalachian Trail,” the FBI agent wrote. Authorities say when the 30-year-old approached the four hikers, he acted “disturbed and unstable” and was “playing his guitar and singing.” Later that same evening, two of the hikers set up camp in the Wythe County, Virginia section of the trail. “Jordan began randomly approaching the hikers’ tents, making noises and threatening the hikers,” Childers said. “Jordan spoke to the hikers through their tents and threatened to pour gasoline on their tents and burn them to death.” The four hikers decided they were going to leave the campsite. They were afraid of Jordan, authorities said in the federal affidavit. Jordan approached the hikers with a knife as they tried to leave, Childers said. Two hikers began to run but Jordan chased them. Authorities said Jordan then returned to the campsite and began to argue with a man and a woman. Jordan began stabbing the man in the upper part of his body, the federal affidavit said. The woman saw the man fall to the ground. She began to run. Childers said Jordan chased the woman and caught up to her as she got tired. “She turned to face Jordan and raised her arms as if to surrender when Jordan began stabbing her and she received multiple stab wounds,” Childers wrote. The woman played dead. Jordan left to find his dog. Authorities say the woman ran down the trail toward Smyth County. Two hikers saw her and helped the woman hike another six miles into Smyth County, where they called 911. It was around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday when dispatchers in Wythe County receive a 911 call. Two of the hikers chased by Jordan as he wielded a machete reported the incident to dispatchers, authorities said. Around 3:12 a.m., the Smyth County 911 center received a call from the woman who investigators said was stabbed by Jordan. The woman was taken to an area hospital. A Wythe County Sheriff’s Office tactical team converged on the campsite where the attack took place around 6:14 a.m. Jordan was taken into custody. Authorities said Jordan had blood on his clothing. The male victim was found dead. A knife was found near his body. WSLS reported authorities used the male victim’s GPS to find him after he sent out an emergency notification on his cell phone. Investigators spoke with the female victim. She identified Jordan as the attacker, Childers said. Police also spoke to the other two hikers. They also identified Jordan as the man who chased them with a knife. Those two hikers had a cell phone picture of Jordan from his prior incident in Tennessee, authorities said. WJHL reports Jordan was given probation and ordered to pay fines after he threatened hikers on the trail with an ax a month earlier. He pleaded guilty to criminal impersonation, drug possession and public intoxication in a Tennessee court, the television station reported. According to authorities, Jordan went by the name “Sovereign” while on the trail.<doc-sep>
(Reuters) - A man accused of attacking hikers with a machete on the Appalachian Trail in Virginia, killing one person and severely injuring another, has been arrested on murder and assault charges, federal and state authorities said on Sunday. The suspect, James Jordan, 30, from the Cape Cod town of West Yarmouth, Massachusetts, was taken into custody early on Saturday on a portion of the trail that runs through Wythe County, Virginia, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, officials said. The arrest came shortly after two hikers reported to local authorities that “there was a man with a machete assaulting people on the Appalachian Trail in Wythe County,” the county sheriff’s office said in a statement. The sheriff’s statement said a male and a female were injured in the attacks but gave no further information. A separate statement issued by the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia said the attacks left one person dead and another severely injured. Federal prosecutors said Jordan had been charged with one count of murder and one count of assault with intent to murder within the jurisdiction of the United States. No mention was made of a possible motive, or whether investigators believe the attack was targeted or random. A section of the trail remained closed. Wythe County Sheriff Keith Dunagan told CNN affiliate station WSLS-TV that authorities managed to locate the man who was attacked using global positioning satellite (GPS) technology after he sent an emergency notification on his phone. The injured woman was found only after she had walked 6 miles (10 km) while bleeding and found other hikers to assist her, Dunagan told WSLS. Jordan was due to make his first court appearance on Monday in U.S. District Court in Abingdon, Virginia, about 240 miles (386 km) southwest of Charlottesville, Virginia. The case is under investigation by the sheriff’s office, state police, the U.S. Forest Service and FBI. Designated a national scenic trail, the rugged 2,200-mile (3,540-km) footpath runs along the ridgeline of the Appalachian Mountain range through 14 states, from Georgia to Maine. It is jointly administered by the Forest Service, the National Park Service, the nonprofit Appalachian Trail Conservancy, various state agencies and thousands of volunteers. More than 3 million people walk a portion of the trail every year and over 3,000 attempt to hike the entire footpath annually, according to the conservancy. The total elevation gain along the entire trail route, completed in 1937, is equivalent to climbing Mount Everest 16 times, the conservancy said.