Preston L. “Patch” Higgins, a 66-year-old White male, was a longtime Elkins-area resident whose life ended suddenly and violently on Monday, November 13, 2023. He was found at his home on Ward Road in Randolph County, just south of Elkins, after West Virginia State Police responded to a report of a deceased man at the residence. What first appeared publicly as a sudden and unexpected death quickly became a homicide investigation when troopers found Higgins in his driveway with a gunshot
wound to the chest.
Higgins was known in the Elkins community not only as “Patch,” but as a musician and familiar local figure. Obituary accounts described him as someone who had been in his usual health before his death, making the discovery even more shocking for those who knew him. He was born in Elkins, had family ties in the area, and left behind loved ones who were forced to absorb the news that his death was not simply unexpected, but the result of a shooting outside the place where he lived.
Investigators moved quickly in the days after Higgins was found. Crime scene evidence and witness information led West Virginia State Police to focus on Dallas Ray Bryant, a Harman resident who was in his late sixties at the time. Investigators reported that Higgins had suffered a single gunshot wound to the chest, and later reports also noted a bruise or abrasion to his forehead. The investigation included review of video footage from a Smoker Friendly liquor store in Elkins, where Higgins and Bryant were reportedly seen together on the afternoon of November 13, before Higgins was later found dead.
Bryant was arrested on Friday, November 17, 2023, and initially charged with first-degree murder in Higgins’ death. After his arrest, reports stated that Bryant allegedly told police he had thrown the gun over a guardrail on Rich Mountain Road. He was held without bond at the Tygart Valley Regional Jail as the case moved forward. Authorities treated him as the suspect in the shooting, and public reports did not identify any other alleged shooter or co-defendant.
The case later proceeded through Randolph County Circuit Court. Bryant was indicted in June 2024 on charges that included murder, use or presentation of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and two misdemeanor counts of providing false information. By early 2025, the case changed direction through a plea agreement. During a January 2025 hearing, the murder charge was reduced to voluntary manslaughter, with sentencing left to the court.
In March 2025, Bryant was sentenced for his role in Higgins’ death. Randolph County Circuit Judge David Wilmoth imposed the maximum 15-year prison sentence for voluntary manslaughter. Bryant was also ordered to repay the state for funeral expenses paid to Higgins’ family and was barred from having direct or indirect contact with Higgins’ family. The sentence closed the criminal case not with a murder conviction, but with Bryant being held legally responsible for the fatal shooting that took Preston L. “Patch” Higgins’ life outside his Ward Road home.
