On what was supposed to be a hunting trip in the crisp autumn air of Bedford County, Virginia, the life of 18-year-old David William Wilkey was cut tragically short on November 21, 1983. The White/Caucasian male's death was initially reported as a hunting accident, a sorrowful but seemingly straightforward incident in the rural landscape. However, the truth that would eventually surface was far more sinister, revealing a cold-blooded murder-for-hire plot orchestrated by a man he considered a
friend.
The narrative of an accidental shooting began to unravel when an informant approached the FBI in the spring of 1985. This crucial tip reopened the investigation into Wilkey's death and pointed detectives toward a conspiracy fueled by greed. The focus of the renewed inquiry fell upon David Lee Fisher, a man who had befriended the young Wilkey. Investigators discovered that just a month before the fatal hunting trip, Fisher had taken out a significant life insurance policy on Wilkey, positioning himself as the beneficiary. This discovery transformed the perception of the case from a tragic accident into a calculated scheme for financial gain.
The accomplice in this deadly plan was another man on the hunting trip, Bobby Mulligan. Years after the incident, Mulligan confessed to his role in the murder, admitting that he was the one who fired the fatal shot from a 12-gauge shotgun, striking Wilkey in the back. In his confession, Mulligan detailed the grim arrangement: Fisher had hired him to kill Wilkey in exchange for a portion of the insurance payout. Mulligan's testimony painted a chilling picture of the moments after the shooting, alleging that Fisher had even reached into Wilkey's wound in an attempt to stop his heart.
The legal proceedings that followed brought the dark details of the conspiracy to light. David Lee Fisher was convicted of capital murder in 1987 by a Bedford County jury, a landmark case for the county. Despite numerous appeals that reached the highest courts, his conviction and death sentence were upheld. Bobby Mulligan, who confessed to being the triggerman, pleaded guilty to capital murder and received a life sentence. Fisher, maintaining his innocence to the end, was executed by lethal injection in March 1999. The investigation and subsequent convictions closed a case that began as a supposed accident, exposing a treacherous betrayal and a murder motivated by a life insurance policy.
