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Waverly woman charged with second-degree murder

Claims victim shot during attempted assault

PARKERSBURG – A Waverly woman has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of a man reportedly missing for nearly a year.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Wood County Magistrate Court, Melody Ann Anderson, 49, 239 James Lane, Waverly, told the West Virginia State Police she shot and killed Robert Marshall Throckmorton in May of 2022 after he attempted to rape her.

Throckmorton was reported missing a week ago, with family members saying they had not seen or heard from him since approximately May, the complaint said. A state trooper spoke with Anderson, who had been in a relationship with Throckmorton up to his disappearance, and learned she had been with him at her residence around the time he was last seen.

A search warrant was executed at the residence and Anderson arrived and spoke to a trooper, the complaint said. She said that around May 31 Throckmorton came to the residence and tried to rape her. When he left the room, she retrieved a gun, hid it under a pillow, then shot him in the head when he tried to force himself on her, the complaint said.

The next morning, it says, Anderson dragged the body through the yard and buried it under an open-sided shed. She showed the trooper where she had buried the body, the complaint said.

Anderson was charged with second-degree murder and concealment of a deceased human body. She was arraigned Friday and held in the North Central Regional Jail on a $100,000 cash bond.

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