Chad Steven Given, a 33-year-old White/Caucasian man, was living in Dillwyn, Virginia, when his life ended in a shooting on June 20, 2020. Given had been born in Webster Springs, West Virginia, on March 30, 1987, and grew up in Bergoo. He later made his home in Virginia, where he worked as a diesel mechanic for EZ Hauling and Repair in Dillwyn. Family remembrances described him as someone who enjoyed hunting, fishing, four-wheeling, cooking, working on vehicles and playing guitar, while his
greatest source of pride was being a father to his sons, Chad Steven Given II and Gunnar Taylor Given.
On the evening of June 20, the Buckingham County Emergency Communication Center received a report of a shooting at approximately 9:03 p.m. in the 300 block of Petersville Church Road in the Trents Mill area of Buckingham County. Buckingham County sheriff's deputies and Virginia State Police responded to the residence. When officers arrived, they found Given dead at the scene. His obituary likewise reported that his unexpected death occurred at his home that Saturday.
The investigation quickly focused on Given's wife, Cristen Reeves Given. Following the initial investigation at the scene, deputies arrested her in connection with her husband's death. Authorities charged her with first-degree murder under Virginia law, and she was taken to the Piedmont Regional Jail, where she was initially held without bond while awaiting further court proceedings. Law-enforcement officials did not publicly disclose a motive in the early reports of the killing, and the available contemporaneous news coverage did not provide a detailed account of what led up to the shooting.
The prosecution continued into Buckingham County Circuit Court later that year. Court records show that the first-degree murder case was formally filed on November 5, 2020, and a grand jury returned a true bill on November 10. The case did not ultimately proceed to a jury trial on the original murder allegation. Instead, on March 10, 2021, the charge was amended from first-degree murder to felony voluntary manslaughter under Virginia Code § 18.2-35. Cristen Reeves Given entered a guilty plea to the amended charge, resolving the homicide prosecution without a trial.
For the voluntary manslaughter conviction, the court imposed a 10-year penitentiary sentence, with six years suspended, leaving four years of the sentence active under the terms recorded in the court docket. The disposition also called for two years of supervised probation following release. No fine or restitution was recorded, although court costs were assessed. A formal conviction and sentencing order followed on March 15, 2021. The final disposition therefore differed substantially from the first-degree murder charge filed immediately after Given's death: his wife was ultimately convicted through a guilty plea of voluntary manslaughter rather than first-degree murder.
Given's death left behind his children, parents, siblings, extended family and friends. His memorial notices remembered a mechanic and outdoorsman who was particularly devoted to his children and who was known for helping others. While publicly available reports provide little detail about the argument, confrontation or other circumstances immediately preceding the fatal shooting, the criminal case established a legal resolution when Cristen Reeves Given accepted responsibility by pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in connection with his death.
