By Stephen Smoot
On June 13, Hardy County law enforcement responded to 2360 High Knob Road in Old Fields.
There Mark Brendon Gelband, age 49 was arrested on the charge of murdering his father, Robert L. Gelband at 12:30 p.m.. He was then arraigned in Hardy County Magistrate Court in front of Craig Hose and was booked at Potomac Highlands Regional Jail at 3 o’ clock p.m..
Gelband is being held without bail. The Hardy County Sheriff’s Department is conducting the investigation.
On a Facebook page, Gelband identifies himself as an independent subcontractor who attended Forest Hills High School and Queens College, both in the New York City borough of Queens. A Linked In page identifies him as a senior project manager at ALC Environmental in Brooklyn, New York. That company provides rehabilitation services to buildings undergoing environmental damage.
Another Linked In page identifies him as a “Licensed professional geologist” and “qualified environmental professional with Gelband Geologic Consulting, founded in 2018. This page states that he undertook work for the New York City Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation and also worked in the oil and gas industry.
Information was released by Hardy County Sheriff S. R. Dawson on June 16. The investigation remains ongoing.
