Buena Vista woman pleads guilty in 2024 Hawthorne Avenue murder case

Margaret Mary Wright’s guilty plea marked the point where the Carl William Agnor case stopped being a homicide investigation and became a resolved courtroom matter. On April 17, 2026, Wright pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection with Agnor’s death inside a home in the 1900 block of Hawthorne Avenue in Buena Vista, a formal admission that removes the need for a trial over that charge.

The plea centers on the April 23, 2024, killing of Agnor, who was found inside the residence after police and emergency medical personnel responded to reports of a serious disturbance. Officers discovered Agnor with multiple injuries, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Wright was arrested on May 7, 2024, and remained in custody while prosecutors built the case.

For Agnor’s family, the plea gives the case a clearer legal answer after nearly two years of waiting. It also confirms the prosecution’s theory without forcing relatives and witnesses through a trial, where the facts of the killing would have been tested in open court and the outcome remained uncertain. With the guilty plea entered, the dispute over whether Wright was criminally responsible for Agnor’s death is now resolved.

The next major step is sentencing, which will determine the punishment Wright faces for the conviction. That hearing now stands as the case’s remaining courtroom milestone, and it will be the point at which the court decides how the admitted killing is formally punished under Virginia law.

Interim police chief David S. Clements said the department was sympathetic to Agnor’s family and grateful for the professionalism and dedication shown by the officers who investigated the homicide. The plea closes one chapter in a case that began with a violent scene on Hawthorne Avenue in 2024 and carried into 2026 before ending with Wright’s admission of guilt.