Tammy Sue Rowe, a 49-year-old White woman from Gordon, West Virginia, was killed during a shooting at a residence on Old Delta Road in Bob White, Boone County, on Saturday, March 21, 2026. West Virginia State Police troopers from the Boone County Detachment were sent to the home after receiving a report of a shooting. When they arrived, they found Rowe dead from what authorities described as an apparent gunshot wound.
A second shooting victim, Shena Castle of Seth, was also found at the residence with a gunshot wound that authorities determined was not life-threatening.
Castle was transported to Boone Memorial Hospital, where she received treatment and was later released. Rowe’s body was taken to the West Virginia State Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy, and authorities notified her next of kin. The West Virginia State Police crime scene team assisted Boone County troopers as investigators processed the residence and worked to determine the circumstances surrounding the gunfire. Initial reports did not publicly describe what led up to the shooting, identify a motive, or explain the relationship between Rowe, Castle, and the man accused in the case.
Investigators soon identified Jerry Byron Hills of Bob White as the suspect. Hills was taken into custody and charged with first-degree murder in connection with Rowe’s death and malicious wounding in connection with the shooting of Castle. Contemporary reporting differed slightly on Hills’ reported age, but an official West Virginia Regional Jail admission record lists his date of birth as July 17, 1966, making him 59 at the time of the shooting. That same state record shows Hills being admitted to Southwestern Regional Jail at 5:25 a.m. on March 22, the morning after the shooting.
Police reporting described Hills as being arrested following the investigation rather than as an unidentified or fugitive suspect, and the available accounts name no additional suspects in Rowe’s killing. He was held at Southwestern Regional Jail after his arrest while facing the murder and malicious-wounding allegations. Early reporting said the investigation remained active, with State Police continuing to examine the shooting after Hills had been taken into custody.
Rowe was also known as “Sissy.” Her obituary records that she was born January 10, 1977, and died March 21, 2026. She was survived by her children Michael Thomas Lovejoy, Destiny Dawn Lovejoy, Cody Allen Lovejoy, Kayleah Dawn Lovejoy and Madison Danielle Green, along with grandchildren and other relatives. Family and friends gathered on March 28 at Browns Branch Freewill Baptist Church in Gordon, where a memorial service was held, and arrangements called for her cremation.
As of the most recent online material located through August 15, 2026, the publicly accessible reporting reviewed for the case continues to describe Hills as the person arrested and charged with first-degree murder and malicious wounding. No reliable later online report located in the search showed that another suspect had been arrested, that the charges against Hills had been dismissed, or that a trial, guilty plea, acquittal, or conviction had yet been completed. The publicly reported case therefore remains centered on Hills as the accused man, with Rowe’s fatal shooting and Castle’s wounding forming the basis of the two principal charges.
