A local man who stabbed a friend to death in a clandestine methamphetamine lab in 2005 was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Friday.

Joshua Stowers, 29, of Big Creek, entered a guilty plea to murder in the second degree on Friday in Logan Circuit Court.

Stowers was indicted in September 2005 for first degree murder in the gruesome stabbing death of Joseph Dingess.

The killing took place on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2005, at Big Creek. Stowers was arrested later that day after West Virginia State Police Troopers spent much of that day trying to find him. Stowers was the prime suspect in the death, which ironically took place in an clandestine methamphetamine lab while the WVSP and other law enforcement agencies were busy that morning with a massive countywide drug roundup.

Troopers had responded to the Big Creek area in reference to a fatal stabbing complaint and the victim was dead upon their arrival. Shortly thereafter, the WVSP Crime Scene team arrived to collect evidence. Later in the afternoon, troopers located and arrested Stowers in the Big Creek area around 5:26 p.m.

Stowers was sentenced to no less than 20 years in the penitentiary with credit for time served in jail (773 days) by Logan County Circuit Judge Roger Perry.

According to statements signed by Stowers in court, he admitted he was "using drugs and alcohol at the time of the incident."

"My friend (brother-in-law) and I had been drinking and using drugs," the report states. "We began to fight and my friend was stabbed. I ran down the hill with the knife in my hand. My recollections are blurry."

Both the suspect and the victim were known to local law enforcement officers. Both men had capias warrants issued for their arrests earlier that week after they did not appear in court on prior charges.

Stowers was arrested in Logan County by the Chapmanville Police Department's Officer Rash for grand larceny on Dec. 9 2005. He was arrested in Logan by Trooper Vance of the WVSP for driving under the influence, driving on a revoked license, improper registration, no insurance and defective equipment on Dec. 26.

Dingess, 34, of Chapmanville, was arrested in Logan County by the Chapmanville PD for grand larceny on Dec. 9, 2005.