Reba Hatcher, a 34-year-old White/Caucasian woman, was killed on January 2, 2014, inside the mobile home she shared with her husband near Comfort in Boone County, West Virginia. West Virginia State Police described the incident as a domestic dispute that escalated into a murder-suicide. The shooting occurred at the couple’s residence on Joe’s Creek Road during the morning hours, bringing troopers to the home shortly before 9 a.m.
Investigators identified Reba’s husband, Bobby
Hatcher, as the person who killed her. According to State Police accounts of the investigation, Bobby shot Reba multiple times with a. 357 Magnum revolver that was loaded with. 38 Special ammunition. After shooting her, he obtained a second handgun, went into the living room of the mobile home, and fatally shot himself. When authorities entered the residence, both Reba and Bobby were dead. Police said the couple had been married for approximately two years.
The violence unfolded while other people were inside the home. Two children, ages 5 and 10, were present when the shooting occurred. They managed to escape from the mobile home and went for help, and neither child was physically injured. State Police emphasized the lasting impact the deaths would have on the children, who suddenly lost both parental figures in the same incident.
Another person, identified as 44-year-old Bobby E. Davis Jr., was also inside the residence during the confrontation. Davis escaped without injury. Contemporary reports variously described him as an acquaintance of the couple, and authorities did not identify him as a suspect in Reba’s killing. State Police attributed the shooting to the domestic dispute between Reba and her husband, and no information found in contemporary coverage indicated that Davis was arrested or charged in connection with either death.
Outside her home, Reba worked as a cashier at the Little General Store on Coal River Road in Comfort. News of her death reached coworkers there on the same day. A coworker remembered her as friendly, well liked, and a good worker, providing a glimpse of the life abruptly interrupted by the violence at her home.
The investigation did not lead to an arrest, prosecution, or criminal trial because the person State Police identified as Reba’s killer died at the scene. Bobby Hatcher was therefore never formally prosecuted or convicted for her death. Authorities treated the case as a murder-suicide: Reba was the homicide victim, while Bobby was identified by investigators as the shooter who subsequently took his own life. No additional suspects or accomplices were publicly identified in the available reporting.
