On August 15, 2019, Marcus Alva Fagons, a 26-year-old resident of Moatsville, West Virginia, met a tragic and violent end. The circumstances surrounding his death were marked by a history of domestic violence and a volatile relationship with his wife, Carli R. Reed.
The events leading up to Fagons' death were characterized by intense conflict and abuse. In the days preceding the incident, Fagons had been involved in multiple infidelities, which led to Carli Reed attempting to leave him. However, Fagons would not allow her to go, unpacking her belongings and threatening her with severe violence, including a gruesome story about his father burning a man alive and shooting anyone who tried to escape the burning house.
This threat was meant to intimidate Reed into staying with him.
On the day of the incident, Reed received multiple calls from Fagons while she was at work, asking her to call his workplace to report a family emergency so he could leave his job at the 'tower,' a position he disliked. This was not the only indication of the tense situation; earlier, Fagons had supervised visitation with his daughter and later became aggressive towards Reed when she returned home, following her into the bedroom and master bathroom where he raised his hands to strike her. Despite the presence of his daughter and a worker from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, Fagons continued his violent behavior, beating and raping Reed after the others left.
The fatal incident occurred later that day. Reed, who had been subjected to ongoing abuse, found Fagons silent and bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound to the head when she returned to the bedroom. She had previously shaken him and noticed blood coming from his ear, prompting her to seek help from her mother who lived nearby. West Virginia state troopers arrived at the scene around 5:53 p.m. to find Fagons in this critical condition.
Carli R. Reed was subsequently arrested and charged with the murder of Marcus Fagons. Following her arrest on August 15, 2019, she was incarcerated in the Central Regional Jail. Despite her efforts to have the charges dismissed due to the failure to indict her within the required two terms, the motion was denied, and she was eventually indicted by the Barbour County Grand Jury on June 15, 2020, for first-degree murder. However, during the trial, the charges were reduced, and on September 24, 2020, Reed was convicted of second-degree murder.
Reed's defense during the trial included proposed jury instructions that highlighted the history of abuse and the context in which the fatal incident occurred. However, the jury ultimately found her guilty of second-degree murder, reflecting the severity of the crime despite the mitigating circumstances of domestic violence and abuse.
