Gerald Martin Maxwell, 28, was shot inside an apartment on Starling Drive in Rand, West Virginia, on the morning of December 17, 2014. Deputies and state and federal officers responded after a 9:00 a.m. report; Maxwell suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was taken to Charleston Area Medical Center with life-threatening injuries. He died at the hospital late that Wednesday night, and the investigation was then treated as a homicide.

Investigators quickly focused on Leonard Dwayne Thomas, who was staying at the apartment; Thomas was arrested nearby and initially charged with malicious wounding before the charge was upgraded to murder after Maxwell’s death. Prosecutors said the shooting grew out of a dispute over a woman and heroin and presented witnesses who described Thomas handling a gun earlier and saying he intended to kill people in the house. Thomas testified that he shot because he believed Maxwell was armed and about to shoot him; other witnesses said Maxwell was unarmed and reclining on a couch when shot.

A jury in February 2016 found Thomas guilty of first-degree murder and denied mercy, and the court later sentenced him to life without parole. Did anyone know Maxwell’s movements or relationships in Rand in the days before December 17?