Murder of Arthur Warren

Arthur Carl "J.R." Warren Jr. was a 26-year-old man from Grant Town, West Virginia, who lived with learning disabilities and a birth defect affecting one hand. He was described by his community as soft-spoken, was a regular churchgoer with his parents at a Missionary Baptist assembly, and attended meetings of a gay student group at nearby Fairmont State College, though he was not enrolled there. He had come out to his mother and church minister at age 16 and found acceptance from both.

On the night of July 3, 2000, Warren left his parents' home telling them he was going to watch Fourth of July fireworks in Grant Town. Instead, he went to an empty house owned by the family of 17-year-old acquaintance David Allen Parker, where Parker was painting alongside his 17-year-old cousin Jared Wilson and 15-year-old Jason Shoemaker. The group drank beer, smoked marijuana, and huffed gasoline fumes. Warren reportedly brought cigarettes and his prescribed Xanax to the house at Parker's request.

An argument broke out after Parker accused Warren of spreading a rumor that the two had a sexual relationship, which Warren denied. Conflicting accounts later emerged: the Associated Press reported that sources described a sexual relationship between Parker and Warren, and separately between Wilson and Warren, while the Marion County prosecutor characterized such claims as hearsay; Parker's attorney later asserted a long-running sexual relationship dating to when Parker was a child. During the argument, Parker and Wilson beat Warren and kicked him with steel-toed boots while Shoemaker watched without participating.

The three then placed the injured Warren in Parker's car and drove toward the edge of town, with Warren still conscious enough to ask repeatedly to be taken home. Parker and Wilson removed him from the car, placed him in the road, and Parker ran over him four times with the car, apparently to stage the death as a hit-and-run. The group returned to the house, cleaned up blood, and burned their bloodied clothing. Warren's body was found by a newspaper carrier at 5:30 a.m. on County Route 17.

Shoemaker told his mother, Norma Shoemaker, about the killing despite threats from Parker and Wilson, and she alerted police, prompting a shift from a hit-and-run investigation to a homicide inquiry. Parker and Wilson were arrested while at an Independence Day event and reportedly confessed. Marion County Sheriff Ron Watkins said there was no evidence of a hate-crime motive but did not rule it out; the Human Rights Campaign and a Fairmont State College student group raised the possibility with investigators.

Warren's funeral on July 8, 2000, drew hundreds of mourners; his parents insisted on an open casket. Public vigils followed, including one attended by more than 600 people in Marion County, where members of the Westboro Baptist Church staged a small protest countered by student demonstrators.

David Allen Parker pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on July 19, 2001, and was sentenced to life with mercy, with parole eligibility after 15 years, in exchange for testifying against Wilson and dismissal of a conspiracy count. Jared Wilson pleaded guilty on August 21, 2001, to second-degree murder, reduced from first-degree murder and conspiracy, and received a 20-year sentence. Jason Shoemaker was charged as an accessory after the fact and tried as a juvenile. In June 2002, Warren's parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Parker and Wilson.