May 27, 2016 - Two suspects in the fatal shooting of a former coal chief executive in southern West Virginia were planning to steal his vehicle and sell it, authorities said Thursday.

The body of Bennett Hatfield, 59, was found Monday at a cemetery where he had been visiting his wife's grave near the Kentucky-West Virginia border the day before. His SUV was found nearby.

Anthony Arriaga, 20, of Delphos, Ohio, was arraigned on a first-degree murder charge Thursday in Mingo County Circuit Court. He was ordered held without bond pending a June 3 preliminary hearing.

Based on interviews with Arriaga and others, authorities believe Arriaga and Brandon Lee Fitzpatrick, 18, of Louisa, Kentucky, hatched a plot to steal a vehicle, Mingo County Prosecutor Teresa Maynard said.

According to Maynard, the two saw Hatfield's SUV at the Mountain View Memory Gardens cemetery in Maher and Fitzpatrick dropped off Arriaga, who had a gun given to him by Fitzpatrick.

Hatfield resigned in 2015 as president and CEO of Patriot Coal, a month before the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time. He was International Coal Group's CEO when a 2006 explosion at the Sago Mine in northern West Virginia killed 12 miners.

Maynard said the random shooting led authorities to believe that Arriaga had no connection to Hatfield.

"They were just driving by," Maynard told The Associated Press. "They wanted to hijack a car, they said. And that was just the nice one that they happened to drive by and see."

Investigators believe Arriaga and Fitzpatrick wanted to get $10,000 to $15,000 by selling Hatfield's SUV to a chop shop, Mingo County Chief Sheriff's Deputy Joe Smith said.

Maynard said Fitzpatrick intended to get Hatfield's vehicle, but after Hatfield was shot, Fitzpatrick disappeared and left Hatfield's vehicle behind. Authorities believe Arriaga was the shooter.

Authorities still aren't sure why the two suspects were in the Williamson area, which is about 50 miles from Fitzpatrick's hometown. Maynard said authorities still have to interview Fitzpatrick, who is charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy. He was being held in the Kenton County, Kentucky, jail, pending extradition proceedings.

Maynard said Arriaga has no connections to southern West Virginia and came to the state because he was childhood friends with another co-defendant, Ricky Peterson, 20, of Wayne. It was through Peterson's friendship that Arriaga met Fitzpatrick, Maynard said.

Peterson is charged with being an accessory after the fact, obstructing and providing false information to an officer. Authorities said Peterson told a state trooper he had no knowledge about Arriaga or Hatfield's death, but two others at Peterson's residence told the trooper that Arriaga had been there and had spoken with Peterson.

Authorities believe Arriaga sneaked along a river bank next to the cemetery after the shooting on Sunday and asked some neighbors to take him to Wayne County, where Peterson lived. A man who drove Arriaga to Wayne County contacted authorities after hearing about Hatfield's death.

Police helped track Arriaga to Wayne County and, through cell phone records, to Allen County, Ohio, where he was arrested Tuesday, said Mingo County Chief Sheriff's Deputy Joe Smith.

Smith said Arriaga's mother, Angela Marcum, was present at her son's arrest Tuesday.

On Wednesday, police in Elsmore, Kentucky, stopped a vehicle carrying Marcum and Fitzpatrick, and officers confiscated methamphetamine, said Elsmore Police Chief Timothy Thames.

Marcum, 43, was charged with trafficking and possession of a controlled substance, having an expired driver's license and making a false report. 

Anthony R. Arriaga, second left, is arraigned Thursday, May 26, 2016, in Mingo County Circuit Court before Judge Miki Thompson, in Williamson, WV. 

Photo Courtesy of Kyle Lovern/Williamson Daily News via AP

Anthony R. Arriaga is escorted out of the courthouse pursued by media after his arraignment,in Mingo County Circuit Court before Judge Miki Thompson, in Williamson, WV.

Photo Courtesy of Kyle Lovern/Williamson Daily News via AP