On the evening of July 26, 2020, 62-year-old Michael Walker was shot dead outside his home on Presbyterian Avenue in Lashmeet, West Virginia. State police found Walker’s body near the front porch with a gunshot wound to the head. Authorities recovered a shotgun from a couch in the living room and arrested 53-year-old Monica Hartwell at the scene.

Investigators and witnesses said both Hartwell and Walker had been drinking that day. Witnesses, including Hartwell’s ex-husband who lived in the home, reported Walker had been acting strangely and sometimes claimed to be a divine figure. According to investigators, Hartwell told a family member she believed Walker was a demon and said the community would be safer without him, framing the killing as an act to protect others while also saying she loved him.

Hartwell was charged with first-degree murder. At trial in August 2022, jurors heard testimony about her beliefs regarding Walker’s alleged demonic possession and her stated motive; they convicted her of second-degree murder.