West Virginia Woman Claimed She Shot Boyfriend During Attempted Rape, Buried Body Under Shed: Cops

A West Virginia woman was arrested for second-degree murder in connection with the death of a man who went missing nearly a year ago, authorities said.

Melody Ann Anderson, 49, allegedly told state police that in May 2022 she fatally shot Robert Marshall Throckmorton during an alleged sexual assault, according to a criminal complaint obtained by The Parkersburg News and Sentinel.

Throckmorton’s family only recently reported the man missing and told investigators they hadn’t been in contact with him since last spring.

A state trooper learned Anderson and Throckmorton had been in a relationship at the time he was last seen alive and obtained a search warrant for her residence in Parkersburg, the complaint states.

Anderson allegedly claimed to investigators that around the end of May 2022, Throckmorton tried to sexually assault her at the home, according to the complaint. When he left the bedroom, the legal document states, she got a gun and hid it underneath her pillow.

When Throckmorton came back into the room and again tried to assault her, Anderson said, she allegedly fatally shot him in the head, according to the complaint.

Police said she then allegedly buried the man’s body under a shed in her yard the following morning.

In addition to the second-degree murder count, Anderson also faces a charge of concealment of a deceased human body.

She was being held on $100,000 cash bond at the North Central Regional jail.