On a Tuesday in the autumn of 2018, the life of Phillip Ray Boggs, a 70-year-old White male, was brought to an abrupt and violent end in his Barboursville, West Virginia home. The events of October 23 unfolded when another man, identified as 66-year-old Armel Kent Stutler of Ona, arrived at Boggs' residence on Heath Creek Road.
A confrontation began between the two men, escalating from a verbal dispute into a physical altercation. The struggle reached a fatal conclusion when Stutler produced a revolver and shot Boggs. The single gunshot proved to be mortal, and Phillip Boggs died at the scene of the encounter.
In a strange turn of events, it was Stutler himself who alerted authorities to the deadly incident. After shooting Boggs, he used his cell phone to dial 911 and reported what he had done.
He did not flee the residence, instead remaining there until West Virginia State Police troopers arrived to find the grim scene.
Armel Kent Stutler was taken into custody by the responding officers without any further reported conflict. Following the initial investigation into the shooting, he was formally charged with first-degree murder in the death of Phillip Ray Boggs. The man who had called to report the crime was now the primary suspect in its commission, leaving a community to grapple with the sudden loss of a neighbor.
