Sharon Kay Berkshire, a 39-year-old White woman, was killed on the morning of December 1, 2014, at the Cheat Lake-area home near Morgantown where she was living. Her death became part of a series of shootings across Monongalia County that left four victims dead and triggered an intensive, day-long search for the suspected gunman, Jody Lee Hunt. Berkshire was found at the residence off Sunset Beach Road along with Michael David Frum, who was also fatally shot.
Investigators determined that Berkshire had previously been romantically involved with Hunt. Monongalia County Sheriff Kenneth “Al” Kisner described their relationship as a rocky one that had lasted about two years. Court records showed that Berkshire had sought protection from Hunt before the killings. She filed for a restraining order during the previous year but later dropped it after their relationship appeared to improve. She sought another restraining order on October 26, 2014, but that proceeding was also terminated roughly two weeks later. At the time of the shootings, records indicated that no protective order remained in effect.
By the time of her death, Berkshire had broken up with Hunt and was living with Frum, whom authorities described as her new boyfriend. According to investigators, Hunt was angry over the breakup and believed Berkshire had been involved with other men. Hunt's stepson, Tristan Bird, later told the Associated Press that approximately a week before the killings, Hunt appeared unusually angry and agitated and specifically complained that Berkshire had broken up with him and cheated on him. Bird recalled warning Hunt not to do anything reckless after Hunt made troubling remarks and said he was not afraid to return to prison.
The violence began elsewhere in Monongalia County. Authorities said Hunt first went to Doug's Towing in Westover, where he shot business owner Doug Brady in the head. Hunt and Brady operated competing towing businesses, and officials said Hunt had previously complained that rival towing companies were taking jobs he believed should have gone to his business. After killing Brady, investigators said Hunt drove to the Cheat Lake residence Berkshire was renting with Frum.
At the Sunset Beach Road residence, Frum was found shot to death inside the home. Berkshire had been shot twice and was discovered outside. Investigators believed the circumstances suggested she may have been trying to escape when she was shot. Authorities also learned that Frum and Berkshire had been dating for several months and that there had apparently been antagonism between Frum and Hunt. Investigators said Frum may at one point have sent Hunt a provocative text concerning his relationship with Berkshire, a circumstance Hunt himself later referenced in a message posted during the manhunt.
After leaving the Cheat Lake residence, police said Hunt traveled across the Morgantown area and shot Jody Taylor, Hunt's cousin and former business associate, at a residence off Sweet Pea Lane. Authorities investigated whether Taylor had also previously been romantically connected to Berkshire. Taylor's mother reported witnessing Hunt standing over her wounded son and continuing to fire before leaving in his truck. The killings of Brady, Berkshire, Frum and Taylor occurred at three separate locations, and investigators emphasized that the victims had been deliberately selected rather than becoming victims of random violence.
As police searched for Hunt, authorities warned residents that he was armed and dangerous and distributed information about his black 2011 Ford F-150. Schools were placed on precautionary lockdowns while local, county and state officers searched the area. During the manhunt, Hunt posted a lengthy message on Facebook expressing anger over his failed relationship and accusing people around him of betraying or hurting him. He acknowledged that what he had done was wrong while attempting to justify his actions in terms of the emotional pain he believed others had caused him. Investigators regarded the postings and his earlier statements as important evidence of his state of mind and possible motives.
Hunt also had a significant criminal history predating the killings. Records reviewed after the shooting showed convictions in several states. In 1999, he was involved in the armed abduction of a former girlfriend in Virginia, holding her hostage at gunpoint for hours before surrendering. He ultimately served prison time in connection with that offense and a West Virginia wanton-endangerment case. Because of his felony history, authorities said Hunt was legally prohibited from possessing a firearm. Investigators were unable at the time to explain where he obtained the handgun used during the December 2014 attacks and were still working to determine whether the same weapon had been used at every scene.
The search ended that evening when police located Hunt's pickup in a wooded area in southern Monongalia County, near the Monongalia-Marion County line. Hunt was found dead inside the vehicle from what authorities described as an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. His death occurred before police could arrest or interrogate him. Investigators subsequently treated him as the person responsible for all four killings, but because he died on the same day as the shootings, there was no criminal arrest, prosecution, trial or conviction in Berkshire's death.
The investigation therefore concluded without the courtroom proceedings that normally follow a multiple homicide. Police instead reconstructed the events from the three crime scenes, Berkshire's prior domestic-violence filings, witness accounts, Hunt's communications and social-media statements, and his relationships with the victims. The evidence portrayed Berkshire's killing as a targeted act arising from Hunt's anger over the end of their relationship, with Frum also targeted because of his relationship with her. Her death was one part of a tightly connected series of personal and business grievances that culminated in four killings before Hunt took his own life.
