Delbert King, a 50-year-old White/Caucasian man, was killed on the evening of September 18, 2015, at a camper along Rosedale Road in Gilmer County, West Virginia. Contemporary reports identified King as being from the Shock area, near Rosedale. The shooting was reported at approximately 5:30 p.m., sending West Virginia State Police and other law-enforcement officers into the area as they searched for the gunman, his vehicle, and the weapon used in the killing.
Investigators quickly focused on Adam Glen Couch, a Nicut-area resident of neighboring Calhoun County. Witnesses at or near the scene were able to provide investigators with information about the vehicle that had left following the shooting, giving police an early lead. Couch had fled from the Rosedale area, and authorities issued a lookout for his vehicle shortly after 6 p.m.
State Police, the Calhoun County Sheriff's Department, and a Natural Resources Police officer participated in the search around Little Creek, Nicut, and Upper Nicut Road.
King had been inside his camper when the shooting occurred. According to information later attributed to the criminal complaint, Couch went to the property at 7734 Rosedale Road near Shock armed with a. 30-30 rifle and shot King. Gilmer County emergency personnel arrived and found King dead at the scene. Contemporary reporting on the complaint described one fatal gunshot wound, while a later West Virginia State Police annual report summarized the case by stating that Couch shot King multiple times before fleeing. Early reports described King as having been struck in the torso.
Couch was located later that night at his girlfriend's residence in the Nicut area of Calhoun County. Investigators also recovered the vehicle authorities believed he had been driving. Police searched an Upper Nicut Road residence and recovered a firearm around midnight that they believed had been used in the killing. According to reporting based on the criminal complaint, Couch admitted to the shooting after he was located. He was taken into custody and initially charged with murder, with the West Virginia State Police later identifying the initial charge specifically as first-degree murder.
In the immediate aftermath, investigators were not publicly certain what had led to the confrontation. State Police described what had occurred at the camper as a meeting rather than a party and said that King and Couch apparently knew one another. Police continued interviewing witnesses and initially indicated they were looking into whether other people had some connection to the events surrounding the shooting. No additional person, however, was ultimately identified in available reporting as having been charged with King's murder.
Within days, investigators developed a possible financial motive. Information contained in the criminal complaint indicated that a source told police King owed Couch money. Authorities consequently examined whether the alleged debt had led Couch to go to King's camper and whether the dispute over money precipitated the shooting. The evidence gathered at the scene, the recovery of the firearm and vehicle, witness information, and Couch's alleged admission provided the foundation for the prosecution.
Couch remained jailed at the Central Regional Jail following his arrest. In November 2015, he appeared before Gilmer County Circuit Judge Richard Facemire, who set bond at $220,000 cash and/or surety with home confinement as a condition. The prosecution continued preparing the case while evidence was processed, but progress toward an indictment was slowed by a substantial backlog at the West Virginia State Police crime laboratory.
By May 2016, a Gilmer County grand jury had formally indicted Couch for first-degree murder. He was also indicted on three counts of wanton endangerment involving a firearm, indicating that prosecutors believed his actions during the shooting had endangered people in addition to King. Couch faced the possibility of a trial on the first-degree murder charge and was represented by attorneys Kevin Hughart and Brian Bailey.
The criminal case continued through 2016. In November, the scheduled first-degree murder trial was continued while the court waited for an evaluation report from Clayman & Associates, and a status hearing was scheduled for the following month. Before the case reached a jury, however, Couch and prosecutors reached a resolution.
On December 20, 2016, Couch appeared in Gilmer County Circuit Court and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in King's death. As part of the disposition, the remaining charges in the indictment were dismissed. The guilty plea eliminated the need for a first-degree murder trial and established Couch's criminal responsibility for killing King. The court ordered a presentence investigation before determining his punishment.
In January 2017, Couch was sentenced in Gilmer County to a definite term of 40 years in the West Virginia penitentiary for second-degree murder. He received credit toward that sentence for the time he had already spent incarcerated beginning September 19, 2015, the day after King was killed. The sentence brought the prosecution to a close roughly sixteen months after the shooting. Although police initially explored whether anyone else might have been associated with the events surrounding the killing, the available public record identifies Couch as the person prosecuted and convicted for King's death.
