In the small town of Marlinton, West Virginia, the evening of February 12, 2024, was shattered by an act of violence that claimed the life of a young, White/Caucasian woman. Camie Rider, a 21-year-old mother, was fatally shot in the parking lot of the Marathon Little General Store. The incident, which unfolded around 9:30 p.m., stemmed from what authorities believe was a domestic dispute.
Emergency services were called to the scene after at least two reports of a shooting.
They found Camie Rider in her vehicle and transported her to Pocahontas Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced deceased later that night. The alleged shooter, who had fled the scene in a black vehicle, was quickly identified as 23-year-old Mason Slava Walker of Hillsboro. Walker was the victim's ex-boyfriend and the father of her two-year-old son.
The investigation, aided by surveillance video from the convenience store, captured the tragic sequence of events. The video reportedly showed Walker pulling into the parking lot, approaching Rider's car, and opening the passenger door before closing it. He was then seen pointing his arm toward the driver's side window, followed by a muzzle flash. After a brief pause, a second muzzle flash was seen before Walker got back into his vehicle and drove away. In a poignant turn of events, Walker's own father approached an officer at the scene and identified his son as the shooter, explaining that he and Rider had been in a relationship and had separated.
Following the shooting, law enforcement located Walker's vehicle and conducted a traffic stop in Valley Head, where he was apprehended. Inside his car, troopers found a handgun that contained two fired cartridges. Further investigation led police to the residence shared by Walker and Rider, where they discovered the couple's young child alone and unattended. Walker was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. He is being held without bond in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail. Family members described Rider as a loving mother whose smile could light up a room and indicated there had been a history of domestic issues between the couple.
