On February 6, 2024, 14-year-old Koda Bryson Jarrett and his 39-year-old mother, Alisha Brooke Carnefix, were shot and killed in their home on Sapphire Road in St. Albans, West Virginia. Koda was an eighth-grade student at Winfield Middle School who participated in chorus and band and enjoyed gaming with friends. Brooke worked as a respiratory therapist and was remembered for her compassionate care and uplifting spirit.

The next day, 31-year-old Markus Deron Guy of Charleston, who was the boyfriend of Koda’s sister Shelby Frazier, turned himself in to police and confessed to killing both victims, saying they were his girlfriend’s relatives. Investigators found both victims with two gunshot wounds to the head. Guy was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of using a firearm during the commission of a felony. Physical evidence reported at trial included gunshot residue on Guy’s hands and the victims’ blood on his clothing; prosecutors presented evidence that he had driven from a hotel in South Charleston to the victims’ home before the killings. The defense argued self-defense, claiming Brooke attacked Guy and Koda intervened; the jury convicted Guy of first-degree murder for Koda’s death and second-degree murder for Brooke’s death.

Anyone who knew Koda or Brooke, or who has information about the killings, is asked to come forward.