David Nicholas “Davey” Green, a 30-year-old White male, died on December 2, 2021, after a hunting-related shooting in the Preston Branch area of Twilight, West Virginia. The incident unfolded in a remote wooded section of Boone County, where Green had reportedly gone out digging roots. He was wearing a black shirt while moving through the woods, doing the kind of work that can take a person far from roads, homes, and quick help.
According to reports from the investigation, 70-year-old Jimmy Castle was hunting in the area the day before Green’s body was found. Castle later told officials that he saw what he believed was a bear in the distance and fired his weapon. The figure he shot was not a bear. It was David Green. Officials said Castle claimed he did not see anything fall after the shot, so he left the area. He later returned with another person to look around, but they did not find anything and left again.
The next day, Green’s family reported him missing.
What began as a missing-person search quickly turned into something far more tragic. Searchers and first responders went into the remote area and eventually found Green’s body. He had suffered a gunshot wound. The discovery confirmed the family’s worst fears and tied the search back to the area where Castle had been hunting.
After Castle learned that a body had been found in the same place where he had fired, he told deputies that he may have been responsible. Authorities said the case was handled by West Virginia Division of Natural Resources officers, and Castle was charged after the investigation connected him to the shooting. Reports identified the charges as misdemeanor negligent shooting and felony failure to render aid. Some later summaries described the case broadly as a negligent or accidental hunting death, but the publicly reported charges tied to Castle were negligent shooting and failure to render aid.
The death of David Green was not described in public reports as an intentional killing, but it carried serious criminal consequences because of what investigators said happened after the shot was fired. Castle was accused not only of firing at a person he claimed to have mistaken for a bear, but also of leaving without rendering aid. Publicly available reports confirm his arrest and charges, but they do not clearly show a final trial outcome, conviction, or sentence in the sources reviewed.
