Jennifer Leigh Hribar, a 39-year-old White/Caucasian woman from Morgantown, West Virginia, was killed on April 19, 2024, at the home she shared with her husband in the Cheat Lake area of Monongalia County. Hribar, who had attended West Virginia University and the Culinary Institute of Pittsburgh and worked as a senior vice president and district manager for WesBanco, was remembered by her family as someone who loved cooking, her dogs, the beach, and West Virginia University sports.
On
the evening of April 19, Hribar and her husband, Rick Allen Cordes, went to two establishments in the Cheat Lake area. Investigators later reviewed surveillance footage and interviewed employees who described verbal disagreements between the couple at both locations. According to authorities, Cordes appeared to be the primary aggressor. The arguments drew enough concern that employees reportedly kept an eye on Cordes because they feared the confrontation could become physical.
The couple later returned to their residence on Falling Water Lane. At approximately 8:30 p.m., emergency personnel were dispatched there following a report of a shooting. Hribar was found suffering from a gunshot wound to the back of her head and was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators recovered a Taurus. 44-caliber revolver believed to have been involved in the shooting. An autopsy conducted through the West Virginia Chief Medical Examiner's Office subsequently determined that Hribar died from the gunshot wound and classified her manner of death as homicide.
Cordes remained at the residence and had called 911, but investigators said his explanation of what happened changed as he spoke with dispatchers, first responders and detectives. During one account, Cordes reportedly acknowledged having contact with the grip of the revolver and suggested that either his finger or both his and Hribar's fingers could have pulled the trigger. Investigators challenged that explanation. During later court testimony, a Monongalia County Sheriff's Department detective said the physical evidence led him to conclude that Hribar had not pulled the trigger herself.
Six days after the killing, on April 25, 2024, Monongalia County sheriff's detectives arrested Cordes and charged him with first-degree murder. He was initially held at the North Central Regional Jail without bond while the homicide case proceeded. The prosecution relied in part on the location of Hribar's wound, the firearm evidence, Cordes' changing accounts of the shooting, and evidence concerning the couple's arguments shortly before Hribar was killed.
The case encountered delays during its preliminary stages. A scheduled proceeding in July 2024 was continued because of a defense attorney scheduling conflict. At an August 2024 preliminary hearing, testimony was presented concerning the arguments at the Cheat Lake establishments, Cordes' statements after the shooting, and the forensic findings. A magistrate found probable cause for the murder charge, allowing the prosecution to proceed toward the Monongalia County grand jury.
The criminal case ultimately ended without a murder trial. In August 2026, Cordes entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder for killing Hribar. During the plea proceedings, Monongalia County prosecutors described Cordes as having shot Hribar in the head with the. 44-caliber revolver inside their home. Under the plea agreement, Cordes agreed to a 30-year prison sentence. Circuit Judge Perri Jo DeChristopher accepted his guilty plea, with formal sentencing to follow.
Hribar's family had remained involved as the case moved through the courts. Following the guilty plea, her father, Victor Hribar, said that no amount of prison time could truly compensate for his daughter's death but expressed relief that the criminal proceedings had finally produced accountability and that the family could begin moving forward after more than two years of uncertainty.
