By Lyra Bordelon
A Greenbrier County Grand Jury charged Terri Lynn Storer with two counts of murder and Randy Lee Barnhart with two counts of accessory after the fact to murder. The case was brought in the Greenbrier County Circuit Court after Jeremiah Thomas and Jennifer Thomas were fatally shot in November 2019. Storer plead not guilty in her arraignment on Wednesday, August 12.
On Friday, November 29, 2019, West Virginia State Police, Rainelle Detachment, Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Department, and Nicholas County Sheriff’s Department responded to a shooting incident near the Greenbrier County and Nicholas County line on Coleman Road in Williamsburg.
“Through investigation it was discovered Jeremiah Thomas, 33, and Jennifer Thomas, 34, had allegedly gotten into an argument over a hunting lease with Randy Barnhart, 45, and Terri Storer, 45,” reads an initial press release from the West Virginia State Police. “During this incident Jeremiah Thomas and Jennifer Thomas were fatally wounded.”
Greenbrier County Prosecutor Patrick Via previously explained the dispute consisted mainly of who should have access to a piece of land often used for hunting.
According to Via, none of the individuals were the owner of the property they were hunting on, but Barnhart and Storer were members of a hunting association that leased the property. The Thomas’s were not with the club but were there “for reasons that are not fully known” to investigators. The argument began over who had a right to be there, a question that wasn’t ultimately answered.
Before Greenbrier County Circuit Court Judge Robert Richardson on Wednesday, August 12, Storer plead not guilty to both counts and the defense submitted a motion for bond, asking for consideration to be placed in the custody of her husband or on home confinement in her Jefferson County home. In the filing, Storer submits that “she was acting in self-defense/defense of others when she had no other recourse than to protect herself.” In addition, the filing includes a Facebook comment allegedly posted by Jeremiah Thomas, reading, “I’m just shooting at the trucks that keep pouring into this place I’m hunting. I told one person and we hunted it all bow season then this. Well guess I’ll be lone wolf again. I enjoy being by myself anyway.” A decision on bond has not yet been found.
The grand jury heard Senior Trooper B.J. Borsman of the West Virginia State Police and ultimately returned the following four counts:
Count One, Murder – “On or about November 29, 2019, … Terri Lynn Storer feloniously, willfully, maliciously, deliberately, and unlawfully did slay, kill, and murder one Jeremiah Russell Thomas.”
Count Two, Murder – “Terri Lynn Storer feloniously, willfully, maliciously, deliberately, and unlawfully did slay, kill, and murder one Jennifer Faye Thomas.”
Count Three, accessory after the fact to murder – “Randy Lee Barnhart feloniously, knowingly, and intentionally did harbor, conceal, maintain, or assist [Storer] after the commission of a murder by [Storer] or give Storer aid knowing that she had committed the offense of murder, with the intent Storer avoid or escape detention, arrest, trial, or punishment. Specifically, [Barnhart] did give aid, in the form of fabricating facts and making material misrepresentations of facts to law enforcement, in coordination with Storer, in the investigation of the murder of Jeremiah Russell Thomas.”
Count Four, accessory after the fact to murder – “Randy Lee Barnhart feloniously, knowingly, and intentionally did harbor, conceal, maintain, or assist [Storer] after the commission of a murder by [Storer] or give Storer aid knowing that she had committed the offense of murder, with the intent Storer avoid or escape detention, arrest, trial, or punishment. Specifically, [Barnhart] did give aid, in the form of fabricating facts and making material misrepresentations of facts to law enforcement, in coordination with Storer, in the investigation of the murder of Jennifer Faye Thomas.”
An indictment is not proof of guilt and all parties remain innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Update 8/13/2020 – information pertaining to the bond filing was added.
