Cody Ryan Carlin, a 27-year-old White/Caucasian male from Hagerstown, Maryland, was killed in Augusta, West Virginia, during what began as an ordinary repossession job and quickly turned deadly. Online reports identify the incident as occurring on July 13, 2023, in the Golden Drive area of Augusta, despite some case listings placing his date of death as July 20. Carlin had traveled to the Hampshire County residence of Michael Andrew McCaughey with another repossession worker to recover a vehicle when the situation escalated in the middle of the day.
According to reports from law enforcement and regional news coverage, Carlin and his coworker were at McCaughey’s residence attempting to repossess the vehicle when McCaughey realized what was happening. Investigators said McCaughey became angry, went into the residence, retrieved a firearm, and shot Carlin.
What had likely been expected to be a routine recovery turned into a fatal confrontation at the property, leaving Carlin critically wounded before officers and emergency responders could save him.
By the time law enforcement and medical personnel arrived, Carlin had died from his injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. The response included members of the West Virginia State Police, the Hampshire County Sheriff’s Office, Natural Resource Police, Augusta Rescue Squad, Hampshire County EMS, the medical examiner, and the West Virginia State Police Crime Scene Response Team. The shooting was treated as a homicide, and investigators quickly focused on McCaughey as the accused shooter.
After the shooting, McCaughey allegedly fled the residence, but reports state he was apprehended almost immediately by law enforcement along Route 50. He was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. Booking information identified him as Michael Andrew McCaughey, then 39, of Augusta, and listed the reported charge as second-degree murder. Early reports stated he was held at the Potomac Highlands Regional Jail on a cash-only bond, with some reports listing the bond at $500,000 while another listed it as $50,000.
Carlin’s death drew attention beyond Hampshire County because he was killed while working in the repossession industry, a job that can place agents in unpredictable and sometimes dangerous situations. Industry coverage described him as a repossession agent who lost his life over a vehicle, and people who knew him remembered him as someone who loved to make others laugh, was adventurous, and had lived fully in his 27 years. His obituary described him as a son, brother, grandson, boyfriend, and friend, born in Hagerstown on December 28, 1995.
The case was not reported as an unsolved killing. McCaughey was identified as the suspect, arrested shortly after the shooting, and charged in connection with Carlin’s death. I did not find reliable online information showing a completed trial, plea, conviction, or sentencing, so the publicly available details mainly document the fatal shooting, the immediate arrest, and the second-degree murder charge filed against McCaughey.
