Neal Martin Falls, a 45-year-old man from Springfield, Oregon, died on July 18, 2015, after a violent encounter inside an apartment on Sixth Street in Charleston, West Virginia. Falls had met an escort, Heather Saul, at her residence. According to Saul’s account, Falls produced a 9mm handgun, threatened her, choked and overpowered her; during the struggle she grabbed his gun and fired one shot that struck him in the head. Saul suffered significant injuries, including strangulation marks, a separated shoulder and fractured vertebrae. Charleston police treated the shooting as self-defense and the Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney announced no charges would be filed because West Virginia law permits deadly force when a person reasonably believes they face serious injury or death. No arrest or prosecution followed Saul’s shooting of Falls.

A search of Falls’s vehicle and belongings led investigators to a larger inquiry. Police found four sets of handcuffs, numerous keys, knives, axes, a machete, a shovel, a sledgehammer, bleach, trash bags, body armor and a handwritten list of women who advertised escort services online. Detectives described the equipment as resembling a serial killer kit and began checking Falls against several unsolved disappearances and killings in Nevada and Ohio where he previously lived or worked. No direct connection to the Chillicothe cases was reported at the time.