Twin brother of Louisa business owner shot and killed in Williamson area     

(AP) Bennett K. Hatfield, an engineer and longtime coal company executive who worked for Massey Energy and Arch Coal, was found dead with a gunshot wound in a Mingo County cemetery, Monday, according to Mingo Prosecuting Attorney Teresa Maynard, The Charleston Daily Mail reported today.

Maynard said Hatfield’s death was being investigated as a homicide.

(WSAZ.COM UPDATE-– Mingo County Sheriff James Smith told WSAZ the man’s body was found about 6:30 a.m. Monday at Mountain View Memory Gardens cemetery in Maher.

Smith says the victim lived in Kanawha County and his girlfriend had reported him missing after he didn’t return for the weekend. Sheriff Smith says they pinged the victim’s cell phone and it led them to the cemetery.

They are looking for anyone who may have driven by between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday for more information.)

Hatfield was the twin brother of Dennis Hatfield of Louisa, who is also an engineer and former Massey Coal Company executive. He and his wife, Patricia now own and operate Simple Treasures, an antique furniture business in Louisa and he is also a private consultant in the coal business.

The brothers grew up in Inez and graduated from Sheldon Clark High School in the early 1970’s. Their father, Sonny Hatfield was a well known Freewill Baptist minister.

Benny Hatfield was CEO of International Coal Group in 2006, when that company’s Sago Mine in Upshur County blew up, killing 12 miners. Later, he was CEO of Patriot Coal amidst that company’s first of two Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings.

Last year, he joined the board of directors of St. Louis-based Foresight Energy, which has operations in the Illinois basin and was founded by West Virginia native and billionaire coal operator Chris Cline.

Denny was the CEO of Martin County Coal, also a Massey company when the more than 200 million gallons of sludge was spilled into Coldwater and Wolf Creeks and then into the Tug River in 2001.