CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The mother of a 21-year-old man who was shot in killed in a Kanawha County motel last year forgave her son’s killer and two others Thursday in Kanawha County Circuit Court.
“I forgive each and every one of them,” said Natalie Casdorph. “But I can’t fully say that I’m forgiving in their demonized minds because they haven’t worked on that themselves yet.”
Casdorph lost her son Kevin Casdorph, 21, following an April 2015 alleged robbery at the Motel 6 in Cross Lanes. She was in court Thursday when Marcus Curtis, 26, pleaded guilty to first degree murder.
Shayla Stephenson, 22, of Charleston and Terrick Hogan, 27, of St. Albans were also charged. Police say the trio planned to rob Casdorph in his room after spotting him with a large amount of money from gambling at the Mardi Gras Casino the night before.
Curtis told Kanawha County Circuit Judge Charles King that Stephenson picked him up in a vehicle on the West Side of Charleston, provided him with a gun, then drove over to the motel where Hogan and Casdorph were. He said when he entered Casdorph’s room, Casdorph told him to sit on the bed, went into the bathroom for a minute, then walked out to talk to him.
“He just kept looking back and forth at the bed and dived to the bed which I thought was under the pillow was a gun. That’s why I pulled a gun and shot him,” Curtis explained. “Then he dove for me and I shot him again. We tussled for a minute then I took the money out of the pocket in the pants and slipped out the room.”
Curtis said Stephenson and Hogan remained inside the car parked at in the motel’s parking lot during the time of the shooting.
Maryclaire Akers, the county’s assistant prosecutor, said Curtis wrote a letter to Casdorph’s family apologizing for what he did. As a result, the state entered into a binding plea agreement. The deal says Curtis will not have to stand trial.
“The plea here ensures that he takes responsibility for what he did. He is sentenced to the rest of his natural life in prison,” Akers told county circuit judge Charles King. Curtis is eligible for parole after 15 years.
Casdorph’s mother was shaken in court. She told the judge all she wanted was for the three involved to learn how to better themselves.
“If they could get involved in something, maybe a drug rehab program for the community, a youth program, something to state that hey, they admitted what they had done was wrong. Let’s move forward and make our community better,” she told reporters.
“I don’t want any more families to suffer,” she said with tears running down her face. “I don’t want anybody to ever go through or experience what I have. My family is devastated.”
No sentencing date was set for Curtis at this time.
Stephenson previously pleaded guilty to the crime. Hogan is scheduled to go on trial beginning Monday.