Henrico delays extradition hearing for N.C. slaying suspect

An extradition hearing has been delayed for a man who was arrested in Henrico County over the weekend in the death of his girlfriend in North Carolina.

Joshua Allen Bolen, 25, is wanted in Stokes County, N.C., for the slaying of Ashley Denise Ward, 24, whose body was found June 2 in a pond. Authorities said Ward, whose body had been tied with rope and electrical cords with cinder blocks on both ends, suffered fatal head injuries.

Stokes County authorities said they developed information after the discovery of the body that Bolen, a resident of Walnut Cove, just northeast of Winston-Salem, had traveled to the Richmond area.

Henrico police Lt. Doug Perry said officers arrested Bolen at 3:24 a.m. Sunday on a felony fugitive charge. Bolen declined to speak with Henrico investigators after his arrest, Perry said.

An extradition hearing was scheduled for this morning in Henrico General District Court, but the matter was continued until July 8.

The day Ward's body was found, Bolen told investigators in Stokes County that the couple had argued about the custody of their 15-month-old son. Bolen also told investigators that Ward was alive when he last saw her.

Two days before Ward's body was discovered, Bolen's mobile home was nearly destroyed in a fire that the Stokes County fire marshal determined had been set in the master bedroom.

Investigators in Ward's death said they subsequently found evidence in the mobile home that pointed them to Bolen.