Dallas Marie White, a 20-year-old White woman, was fatally shot during the early morning hours of February 1, 2015, inside a residence at 706 Neal Street in Parkersburg, West Virginia. White was at the home with her boyfriend, Dakota David Ryan Mackey. The couple were not married, but they had two young children together. What began as a night inside the residence ended with police and emergency personnel rushing to the house after a report of a shooting shortly after midnight.
Parkersburg police were dispatched to the Neal Street home at approximately 12:04 a.m. Officers reached the scene within about two minutes and found White suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. A loaded semiautomatic handgun was lying on the bed near her. Police said Mackey initially refused commands to leave the bedroom so officers could reach White and assess her condition. Officers eventually had to forcibly remove him, and authorities said he struggled with them before being handcuffed and taken out of the residence. Emergency medical personnel were then allowed access to White, but attempts to save her were unsuccessful.
Detectives secured the residence and obtained a search warrant while investigators began interviewing Mackey and other witnesses. According to the account later released by Parkersburg Police Chief Joe Martin, investigators determined that Mackey had provided White with an opiate-based prescription pill. Police said the two subsequently ingested the narcotic. During the events that followed, Mackey allegedly produced a. 380-caliber semiautomatic pistol, loaded the weapon, pointed it at White and fired. A single bullet struck her in the chest, causing the fatal injury.
The search of the home revealed more than evidence connected directly to the shooting. Detectives reported finding approximately 4.5 pounds of marijuana as well as several scheduled prescription medications inside the residence. Because of the quantity of drugs and the circumstances surrounding the prescription medication, Mackey also faced a drug-trafficking-related allegation. Authorities contacted the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources and Child Protective Services because White and Mackey had two minor children. White's body was sent to the state medical examiner for an autopsy.
Mackey was arrested following the shooting. Parkersburg police initially charged him with felony murder and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. Authorities reported that no bond was set on the murder charge at his initial appearance, while bond on the controlled-substance charge was set at $200,000. Investigators also planned to consult with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives concerning Mackey's recent acquisition of the handgun from a local firearms dealer and whether the circumstances could result in additional charges.
The case changed significantly when it reached the Wood County grand jury. On March 17, 2015, a special grand jury indicted Mackey on involuntary manslaughter rather than the felony-murder allegation on which he had originally been arrested. He was additionally indicted for being a person prohibited from possessing a firearm, wanton endangerment involving a firearm, and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. The indictments reflected both the fatal shooting and the drugs and firearm discovered during the investigation.
Mackey ultimately did not take the case to trial. On August 17, 2015, he pleaded guilty to all four counts in the indictment. His guilty pleas brought the criminal case concerning White's death to a conviction without the need for a jury to determine responsibility at trial.
On October 13, 2015, Mackey was sentenced in Wood County Circuit Court. He received one year in jail for involuntary manslaughter, with no credit for time already served; another year in jail for being prohibited from possessing a firearm, with credit for time served; five years in prison for wanton endangerment involving a firearm; and an additional term of one to five years in prison for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. The sentences were ordered to run consecutively, with the jail terms to be served before the prison sentences. He was also ordered to pay court costs, fees and restitution. In practical terms, the consecutive sentences exposed Mackey to a combined period of incarceration ranging up to approximately 12 years, depending on the operation of the indeterminate drug sentence and applicable credit.
The prosecution therefore ended very differently from the charge announced immediately after the shooting. Mackey had initially been arrested for felony murder, but the grand jury proceeded on involuntary manslaughter and the related firearm and drug offenses. His guilty pleas established his criminal responsibility for those offenses, including the manslaughter count arising from the shooting that killed White. The circumstances documented by investigators left a particularly tragic aftermath: a young mother was killed by a single gunshot inside the home she shared with the father of her children, while those children were left without their mother and Mackey faced years of incarceration for the shooting and the crimes uncovered during the investigation.
