Joanna Lynn Phillips, 46, was shot to death at her Sissonville home on Allens Fork Road on December 20, 2025. Authorities say the shooting occurred in the kitchen and that her husband, Jason Joe Phillips, called 911 and reported he had shot her; deputies found evidence investigators said matched his account and Joanna was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators described the killing as the culmination of an argument and charged Jason Phillips with first-degree murder; he was taken into custody without incident.

The killing came amid a documented history of domestic-violence allegations between the couple. In March 2025 Joanna reported that her husband had struck her, prompting a domestic battery warrant; he turned himself in October 2025 and was released on a $3,000 personal-recognizance bond with a no-contact condition that prosecutors say he violated by being at her residence when she was killed. Court records also show a December 2021 allegation that Phillips had pointed a pistol at Joanna, threatened to kill her and struck her; those charges were dismissed in March 2022.

Joanna was a registered nurse, born in Ripley on February 13, 1979, and was serving as Director of Nursing at Complete Care at Oak Ridge in Charleston.

If anyone knew Joanna, her routines, or has information about what happened that night, please share what is known.