FAYETTE COUNTY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – A Wayne County man has pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide in connection with a 2025 crash on the West Virginia Turnpike that killed a North Carolina man.
Fayette County Prosecuting Attorney Anthony Ciliberti Jr. announced that Anthony W. Hay pleaded guilty Friday, Aug. 14, before Circuit Court Judge W.E. Sam Fox II.
Hay faces between one and five years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 22.
The case stems from an Oct. 3, 2025, crash on the West Virginia Turnpike. According to prosecutors, Fayette County 911 received a report of a motor vehicle accident, and responding officers determined that Jack D. Walter of Middlesex, North Carolina, had been struck and killed while he was the driver of a disabled vehicle.
The driver who struck Walter left the scene, according to prosecutors.
Investigators reviewed footage from cameras at toll booths and along the Turnpike, as well as dash camera recordings from commercial vehicles that were in the area. The investigation led officers to identify a commercial box truck as the vehicle involved.
Police contacted the trucking company that owned the truck and identified Hay as its driver. A company manager told investigators that the truck was undergoing repairs for body damage that Hay had reportedly attributed to striking a deer.
Investigators later learned that the truck was equipped with an onboard dash camera. The trucking company provided footage from the day of the crash, which prosecutors said showed Hay’s truck drifting from the right lane onto the shoulder before striking Walter and his vehicle.
According to the prosecutor’s office, footage recorded before the collision also showed Hay repeatedly drifting from the right lane onto the shoulder, which investigators said was indicative of distracted driving.
The West Virginia State Police investigated the case. Ciliberti prosecuted the case on behalf of Fayette County.
