Man pleads guilty to First Degree Murder from 2024 Ethel shooting
- A.M. Stone
- 6 minutes ago
- 3 min read
A.M. Stone | WVOW News
LOGAN The case of a man accused of murder and kidnapping came to an end with a guilty plea in Logan County Circuit Court this week.
24-year-old Daris Stanton has pleaded guilty to first degree murder stemming from a shooting back on October 13, 2024. On Thursday, Stanton admitted to shooting 42-year-old Walter Elmore. Stanton was indicted last year by a Logan County Grand Jury charging him with murder in the first degree, robbery in the first degree, two counts wanton endangerment with a firearm, two counts of kidnapping and use or presentation of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
Witnesses to the shooting, identified in court as Stephanie Smith and Johnathan Dilday, along with Stanton, were locked into a drug fueled weekend at a residence on Enchanted Circle in the Ethel area. Logan County Prosecutor David Wandling described a scenario that started off as a business interaction once the trio ran out of drugs.
“Ms. Smith,” Wanding told the court, “I believe, had the idea to contact Walt Elmore and Mr. Elmore agreed to bring crack cocaine to their location. He arrives later that afternoon, informs them that he needs to cook the crack cocaine.”
Wandling told the court evidence the state intended to present during trial, previously set to begin next week, included statements from Dilday and Smith that alleged Stanton had expressed a need to rob someone earlier in the day.
“So, during this investigation,” Wandling continued, “it was revealed that while Mr. Elmore was attempting to cook the crack cocaine in the kitchen area of this residence, Mr. Stanton, he confronts Mr. Elmore with a sawed-off shotgun. An argument ensues. Mr. Elmore attempts to leave the residence, but Mr. Stanton, according to Ms. Smith's statement, is blocking the door to the residence. Mr. Elmore again tries to leave, at which time Mr. Stanton fires one shot into the abdomen of Mr. Elmore.”
Elmore, after sustaining the gunshot, fled the scene in a vehicle and subsequently crashed the car and was discovered by a motorist. He later died at Logan Regional Medical Center.
Dilday and Smith also told West Virginia State Police, once Elmore left, Stanton turned the shotgun on them, forced them to take a car and leave the scene at gun point. They traveled into Boone County on Route 17.
“At some point,” Wandling said, “for reasons which are still unknown, Mr. Stanton lets Mr. Dilday and Ms. Smith out of the vehicle along Route 17. According to both Mr. Dilday and Ms. Smith, they did not have cell service in the area where they were, and so they walked on foot from where they were released by Mr. Stanton back toward Enchanted Circle until they had cell phone service where they made a 911 call and reported what had happened.”
Ultimately, Stanton was picked up following a traffic stop on Pond Fork Road. He has been in jail ever since.
Prosecutor Wandling acknowledged the credibility of the witnesses were at issue. Other witnesses with less credibility issues told police that Stanton attempted to sell the shotgun used in the murder and confided to another witness that he “now knows what it’s like to kill a man.” Stanton reportedly covered in blood at the time.
Stanton seemed to take some issue with how events unfolded with the two witnesses and their involvement in the whole ordeal. Attorney Rob Kuenzel, the most recent attorney appointed to represent Stanton, explained the defendant only admits to shooting Elmore and doesn’t speak to the involvement of the two witnesses he allegedly absconded with immediately following the shooting.
“If you looked in the discovery material,” Kuenzel stated, “they had the phone download of Ms. Smith and Mr. Elmore, and you can see she was the one that called him. She's the one that engaged him to come up there. I think their involvement was a little more than they've indicated. They're not going to want to implicate themselves in any type of crime or conspiracy or anything like that for obvious reasons.”
Judge Joshua Butcher continued to question Stanton as part of the plea agreement when the prosecutor left no doubt of the defendant’s guilt.
All other charges, including kidnapping were dismissed following Stanton’s guilty plea to murder. The plea agreement includes a recommendation of mercy; however, the Judge does not have follow that recommendation during sentencing set for April ninth.
PHOTO | File