Stephen James Stephens was 21 when he was killed in Jumping Branch, West Virginia, in January 2023. He was then taken from Beckley to Summers County with his hands bound.

In the rural area his injuries were severe: he was stabbed multiple times and also fatally shot. Investigators reported a robbery and a possible drug debt as motives. Another man was found dead at the scene; the circumstances of that death were still being examined. A 26-year-old Beckley man, Kaine William Durham, was arrested and charged in connection with Stephens’s killing and held without bail at the Southern Regional Jail as the investigation continued. Stephens’s family described him as a beloved father, son, and brother who enjoyed working on cars and motorcycles.

If anyone knew Stephens, his movements that day, or has information about the events in Beckley or Summers County, please share what is known.