Shawn Marie McDaniels, a 59-year-old White woman, lived near Marlinton, West Virginia, with Timothy Dale McDaniels, a medically retired West Virginia State Trooper. On Friday, November 27, 2015, relatives became concerned because they had not heard from the couple for several days and requested that authorities check their home on Crow Hill Lane. At approximately 3 p.m., West Virginia State Police Trooper D. M.
Brock and a Pocahontas County deputy went to the residence and discovered both McDaniels deceased inside. Investigators determined that both had been shot with a firearm, and the deaths were immediately treated as a double homicide. Although funeral and obituary records list November 27 as the date of death, law enforcement said the condition of the scene indicated that the killings had occurred before the day the bodies were discovered.
Attention quickly turned to a missing vehicle. Timothy McDaniels' black Honda Pilot was gone from the residence, and investigators developed information pointing toward Aaron Joseph Bussard, Timothy's grandson and Shawn's step-grandson. Police initially obtained a grand larceny warrant accusing Bussard of taking the vehicle while investigators continued working to determine his connection to the two deaths. Authorities warned that Bussard should be considered armed and dangerous. The search expanded across Pocahontas County, including the Hillsboro and Snowshoe areas. After authorities received information that firearms and medication were also missing from the home of Bussard's father, officers established roadblocks and searched rural roads while alerting neighboring jurisdictions to watch for the Honda Pilot.
The search crossed into Virginia during the morning of November 28. Bussard was located after being spotted in the Covington-Clifton Forge area, and authorities encountered him with the missing vehicle. Contemporary reports described a tense confrontation in which he refused to leave the vehicle and threatened to kill himself. He was eventually subdued and taken into custody by Virginia authorities; one report stated that a stun gun was used. Bussard was taken to Allegheny Regional Hospital, where investigators obtained a statement from him, and he was subsequently held as a fugitive from justice while West Virginia authorities prepared to return him to Pocahontas County.
Bussard waived his right to an extradition hearing and was transported back to West Virginia. He was arraigned on two counts of first-degree murder and one count of grand larceny. A magistrate set bond at $100,000 on the vehicle-theft accusation, but the magistrate could not set bond on the first-degree murder charges because those offenses carried the possibility of life imprisonment and required a circuit judge to determine bail. Bussard was remanded to the Tygart Valley Regional Jail as the homicide investigation continued.
The case eventually grew beyond the charges filed immediately after Bussard's arrest. An April 2016 grand jury indicted him on two counts of first-degree murder, one count of grand larceny, two counts of concealment of a deceased body, two counts of fraudulent use of credit cards, and one count of fraudulent schemes. As the prosecution moved toward trial, fingerprint and DNA issues were addressed, laboratory testing was conducted, and the court considered the admissibility of statements Bussard had allegedly made to investigators. In June 2017, the judge ruled that oral statements made to a deputy and a special agent could be admitted. The court also dealt with evidence connected to a search warrant, a video sought by prosecutors, and a proposed jury viewing of the McDaniels property.
The prosecution ultimately ended without a jury trial. On July 17, 2017, Bussard appeared before Pocahontas County Circuit Judge Jennifer P. Dent and entered into a plea agreement. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for Timothy McDaniels' death and voluntary manslaughter for Shawn McDaniels' death, both reduced offenses from the original first-degree murder counts. The court accepted the pleas and formally adjudged Bussard guilty. His defense waived preparation of a presentence investigation report and asked that sentencing take place immediately, while prosecutors requested the maximum punishment permitted under the agreement.
Judge Dent sentenced Bussard to 40 years in the state penitentiary for the second-degree murder conviction and an additional 15 years for the voluntary manslaughter of Shawn McDaniels. The sentences were ordered to run consecutively, producing a combined 55-year prison term, and he received credit for 596 days already spent in custody. Under the plea agreement, prosecutors requested dismissal of the remaining counts, including the grand larceny, concealment, credit-card, and fraudulent-scheme charges. Bussard was then remanded to the West Virginia Department of Corrections to begin serving his sentences. Publicly available reporting does not provide a clear, verified motive or a complete account of what occurred inside the McDaniels residence before the shootings, but the investigation resulted in Bussard accepting criminal responsibility through his guilty pleas, including the voluntary manslaughter conviction specifically for Shawn's death.
