Darius Alexander Damone Toney, a 29-year-old Black/African American man whose name was spelled “Darrius Toney” in some initial news reports, was fatally shot on May 30, 2016, in the Sprague community of Raleigh County, West Virginia, near Beckley. Authorities were dispatched at approximately 2 p.m. to the 100 block of Burton Street after receiving a report of a possible homicide.
When Raleigh County sheriff’s deputies arrived, they found Toney at 103 Burton Street suffering from a gunshot wound. He was already dead when investigators reached the scene.
The discovery immediately prompted a homicide investigation. In the first hours after Toney was found, the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Office indicated that investigators already had someone in mind in connection with the killing. One contemporary report described authorities as having a “strong” suspect, while another said deputies had a “possible suspect.” Despite that early confidence, law enforcement did not publicly identify the person, explain what evidence had led investigators to that individual, or disclose the circumstances that preceded the shooting. Officials also did not initially release information about whether Toney had been shot inside or outside the residence, how many times he had been struck, what type of firearm was involved, or who had discovered him.
Toney’s full name was Darius Alexander Damone Toney. He was born March 29, 1987, in Bluefield, West Virginia, to Tina Toney of Beckley and Robert Towns of Columbus, Ohio. His obituary described a young man with strong ties to the Beckley area who had attended Marshall University and was a member of First Baptist Church of North Beckley. He was also a father, leaving behind his son, Kai’el Jackson of Huntington. Other surviving family members included his sisters, Jemeria Toney of Beckley and Bobbi Towns of Columbus, his grandmother Constance Toney of Beckley, and numerous extended relatives and friends.
The shooting abruptly turned those family connections into a period of mourning. Toney’s death occurred when he was only a little more than two months past his 29th birthday. His funeral service was held on June 5, 2016, at the Ritchie & Johnson Funeral Parlor Chapel in Beckley, with Minister Jonathan Harbison and the Rev. John Burdette officiating. His obituary focused on the family and community he left behind rather than on the violence that ended his life.
Although investigators publicly acknowledged having a strong or possible suspect immediately after the killing, available online news reporting does not identify that person by name. No reliable publicly accessible source located for the case documents an arrest for Toney’s homicide, the filing of a murder charge, an indictment, a criminal trial, or a conviction. The early reports also do not indicate whether the unnamed suspect was questioned, detained, eliminated from suspicion, or remained a focus of the investigation.
As a result, the publicly documented account of Toney’s death remains frustratingly brief. What is known is that he was found shot to death at a Burton Street residence in Sprague on the afternoon of May 30, 2016, that Raleigh County deputies treated his death as a homicide from the outset, and that investigators believed very early in the case that they had a significant suspect. What happened after that initial stage of the investigation is not explained in the surviving online reports, leaving unanswered questions about who killed Darius Toney, what led to the shooting, and whether anyone was ever ultimately held responsible for his death.
