Jimmy Keith, a 26-year-old White man from Pond Gap, West Virginia, was killed on March 10, 2022, after a shooting along Third Street West near St. Albans in Kanawha County. He had been staying in the area with his girlfriend when he was struck by gunfire, reportedly shot in the back, and transported by ambulance to Charleston Area Medical Center General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Deputies opened an active murder investigation after the shooting. Investigators later identified 17-year-old Eli Nelson as the suspect; Nelson was arrested in March 2022 and initially charged as a juvenile with first-degree murder. Court proceedings transferred the case to adult status, and Nelson pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, admitting he shot and killed Keith during an altercation on March 10. Reports say Nelson had been breaking into cars that night and a later search involving divers along the Coal River was connected to the probe.

Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers sentenced Nelson to 15 years in prison in August 2022, the maximum for the voluntary manslaughter conviction; reports indicated he would be resentenced after turning 18. Keith’s obituary remembered him as J.J., noted his love of hunting and fishing, and described the impact of his loss on his children and family. Does anyone have information about that night on Third Street West or the events leading up to the shooting?