David Crawford, a 32-year-old Black / African American man from Oceana, West Virginia, had been missing since late December 2015 when what began as a missing-person investigation suddenly took a much darker turn. Crawford’s disappearance had been reported to the Wyoming County Sheriff’s Department, but investigators apparently had little indication publicly of what had happened to him until West Virginia State Police learned about a conversation involving a 12-year-old girl and her 19-year-old boyfriend, Robert “Tre” Burton III. According to contemporary reporting, the two were discussing the shooting of Crawford. That conversation gave troopers a new direction and ultimately led them to question both of them.
Information developed during those interviews led investigators into the Craney area of Wyoming County on the night of January 8, 2016. At approximately 10 p.m., authorities located a body in the remote area, reportedly about 10 miles down Craney.
The remains were sent to the West Virginia State Medical Examiner’s Office for positive identification and determination of the cause of death. Subsequent news reports identified the body as Crawford’s and treated the investigation as a homicide. Because Crawford had already been missing since late December, the available reporting does not establish January 8 as the actual date he was killed; rather, it was the night his body was recovered and the homicide investigation became public.
Cynthia Ellis, identified in news reports as Crawford’s former girlfriend, described circumstances surrounding his disappearance that became increasingly troubling in retrospect. Ellis said she became concerned after attempting to call Crawford and discovering that his cellphone service had been terminated. She reported him missing and later recalled being given a key to her post office box that others claimed Crawford had left for her. Ellis said she subsequently learned on January 8 that Crawford had been murdered. She also described John Toler as someone Crawford considered a friend and said Crawford had trusted him and thought highly of him, adding another disturbing dimension to the allegations that followed.
Police arrested four people in connection with Crawford’s death. John Toler, 27, of Turkey Dip, West Virginia, faced the most serious allegations and was charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit a felony. Authorities did not publicly describe all of the evidence supporting the murder charge in the initial reports, but Toler emerged as the person directly accused of Crawford’s killing. The fact that Crawford reportedly regarded Toler as a friend was emphasized by Ellis, who expressed her belief that Crawford would not have anticipated being harmed by people he trusted.
Vicki Toler, 18, also of Turkey Dip, was charged with accessory after the fact and conspiracy to commit a felony. Raesha Massey, 25, of Oceana, was charged with accessory after the fact to murder and conspiracy. Robert “Tre” Burton III was likewise charged with accessory after the fact and conspiracy. The investigation also produced a separate second-degree sexual assault charge against Burton arising from his relationship with the 12-year-old girl whose conversation with him had helped bring Crawford’s case to the attention of investigators. That sexual-assault allegation was separate from the homicide itself, although it arose during the same investigation.
All four defendants were reported to be in custody at the Southern Regional Jail in Beckley in the days following the discovery of Crawford’s body. Wyoming County Prosecutor Mike Cochrane indicated shortly afterward that there was a strong possibility of additional charges or indictments as investigators continued developing the case. A preliminary hearing was expected within the following weeks, suggesting that authorities still considered the investigation active and potentially broader than the initial criminal complaints reflected.
Some early reporting used language suggesting that the four had already been “convicted,” but the same coverage simultaneously described them as being newly arrested, awaiting a preliminary hearing, and potentially facing additional indictments. The contemporaneous, more detailed reports support describing John Toler, Vicki Toler, Massey and Burton as defendants who had been arrested and charged at that stage, rather than as people who had already been convicted.
The publicly accessible online reporting located for Crawford’s case documents the arrests and initial charges but does not reliably establish what ultimately happened to those prosecutions. No dependable online source located for the case provided a later trial verdict, guilty plea, sentencing order, dismissal, or other final disposition for John Toler or the three people charged as alleged accessories and conspirators. As a result, the documented public account ends with Crawford’s disappearance developing into a homicide investigation, the discovery of his body in the Craney area, and four arrests that police said were connected to his killing.
