By: Lacie Pierson, Staff Writer | Posted: April 4, 2018 | Source: WV Gazette-Mail
A Big Chimney man accused of killing his wife and claiming she died by suicide entered a plea of not guilty in court Wednesday afternoon.
Randall Todd Chapman, 48, of Big Chimney, entered his plea before Senior Status Judge Thomas Evans III, who is presiding over cases in Kanawha Circuit Judge James Stucky’s courtroom.
Chapman is charged with one count of first-degree murder, and Evans scheduled Chapman’s trial to begin on Aug. 27.
Chapman has been incarcerated at South Central Regional Jail since Kanawha County sheriff’s deputies arrested him in September. No bail was set in his case.
Chapman wore an orange jail-issued jumpsuit in court, and he only spoke to answer Evans’ questions about his case.
Chapman is accused of shooting his wife, Shirlene, in their home along Kennedy Drive, in Big Chimney, on Sept. 16, 2017, Kanawha Sheriff’s Cpl. A.R. Crawford said in the criminal complaint filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court.
Deputies responded to the Chapmans’ home after Randall Chapman reported that his wife shot herself, but he said he waited between 10 and 15 minutes to call 911 and didn’t perform CPR on her during that time, Crawford said.
Chapman told deputies he was asleep in the couple’s bedroom, but something woke him up, Crawford said. Chapman said he went to the living room, where he found his wife lying, bleeding and dead, on the living room floor, Crawford said.
However, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Shirlene Chapman said she was shot in the back, Crawford said.
Deputies found two spent shell casings in the Chapmans’ living room, Crawford said.
Deputies found one of the fired bullets lodged in a living room wall, and the second bullet was located in Shirlene Chapman’s body, Crawford said.
During a preliminary hearing in September, Crawford said the Chapmans had about $600,000 in savings and that Chapman told him the couple had a “tiff” during the early morning hours of the day Shirlene Chapman died.
Reach Lacie Pierson at lacie.pierson@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @laciepierson on Twitter.
