No charges ‘at this time’ in deadly July 2023 White Hall shooting

FAIRMONT, W.Va. (WBOY) — No one will be charged in the death of Charles “Duddy” Echols III of Fairmont at this time, Marion County law enforcement announced at a press conference on Tuesday.

Marion County Prosecuting Attorney Jeffrey Freeman called the press conference after local controversy when earlier this month, the family of Charles “Duddy” Echols III of Fairmont held their own press conference with the help of activists John Shabazz and John C. Barnett , the founder of True Healing Under God (THUG), saying that they had not been given enough information about Echols’ July 30, 2023 death .

Freeman said the nearly year-long investigation concluded that the shooting was a justified use of deadly force for self-defense and that the autopsy, which he just received on June 16, confirmed that all five gunshots that struck Echols hit front to back from a moderate distance.

Freeman said the incident began on July 30, 2023, shortly after midnight when Echols traveled to the White Hall-area housing development where his ex, LeeAnn Chacon, lived after learning that she had established a new boyfriend. Freeman said Echols knew through their communications that he was present in Chacon’s home.

Freeman said that Echols still remembered the garage door code from when the two were in a relationship and Echols had resided there, but that he hadn’t lived in the home for about a year at that point, and entered the home through the garage, uninvited and unannounced.

Michael Costello was staying at the home, invited, at the time, Freeman said.

Echols encountered Chacone first, while she was still on the phone with a friend, according to Freeman, and Chacon’s friend overheard the conversation “before the phone went dead.”

“Miss Chacon attempted to stop Mr. Echols and told him to leave,” Freeman said. “And he refused, knocked her down, and proceeded to attack Mr. Costello, who was in Miss Chacone’s bedroom at that time. Miss Chacone at least on one occasion was able to briefly interrupt that attack after Mr. Costello had been beaten and bloodied. He was able to retrieve his cell phone and make a 911 call. The 911 call stayed active through the remainder of the events.”

Freeman said those events included the fight carrying on through the hallway. It was in the hall that Freeman said Echols strangled Costello “until he lost vision and hearing.”

At that point, Freeman said Chacon was able to briefly interrupt the two and get Echols to agree to leave. The two proceeded down the stairway toward the home’s main entrance according to Freeman and at that point, Costello retrieved his legally-owned firearm and went to the stairs to make sure Echols left.

Costello told Echols he was no longer welcome and asked him not to come back and that police were on their way, according to Freeman. Freeman said Echols charged up the stairs “to re-engage his physical attack” against Costello, but Costello discharged the gun five times, striking Echols.

“Mr. Echols outweighed Mr. Costello by more than 100 pounds, and I don’t believe there was an effective resistance against Mr. Echols’ attacks,” Freeman said.

Freeman said he and Detective Shawn Davis decided to slow the investigation down to obtain as much information as possible “in an effort to not prove that this was a justified shooting but to disprove it, in hopes of ruling out any possibility that something nefarious had taken place.”

Freeman said there was a previous incident at a Walmart between Chacon and Echols the first time she developed a new romantic relationship after their breakup, but did not provide further details.

Had Echols not been killed in the incident, Freeman said he would be facing charges of burglary, strangulation and perhaps attempted murder.

Freeman previously spoke with 12 News after the family’s press conference saying that it’s not correct that the family has been denied access to the autopsy results . Freeman said the family was invited to schedule a meeting to view the autopsy report last month, but that appointment was never scheduled; he said the last time he spoke with Echols’ daughter, Precious, about scheduling that meeting on June 17, but he has not heard back.

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