Walmart employee found shot dead in car, ex identified as suspect

A routine break at the Nitro Marketplace Walmart ended in a homicide scene when employees found Misty Rose Williams, 40, slumped inside her vehicle in the parking lot with an apparent gunshot wound. Williams, who was from Dunbar, never returned from her break, and coworkers checked on her car after growing concerned she had been gone too long.

Kanawha County Metro 911 received the call around 9:15 a.m. Monday, placing the killing squarely in the morning rush period at the busy Nitro store. Investigators said Williams died from a single gunshot wound to the chest, turning what first appeared to be a workplace emergency into a murder investigation in a public retail lot where shoppers and employees were nearby.

Detectives moved quickly after reviewing store surveillance footage, which led them to identify Eric Dewayne Richmond, 54, of Charleston, as the suspect. The Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office said Richmond and Williams shared children, a detail that gave the case an immediate domestic violence dimension beyond the Walmart parking lot setting.

Richmond has since been charged with first-degree murder. He was arraigned in Kanawha County Magistrate Court Monday evening and is being held in jail without bond. The charge and detention status mark a fast-moving case in which investigators appear to have already settled on a suspect and are now working through the timeline and relationship history behind the shooting.

That history is drawing close attention. West Virginia MetroNews reported that Richmond had four domestic battery charges involving Williams that were dismissed since 2016, adding a long-running legal backdrop to a killing that unfolded in public view. The sheriff’s office said the case remains active and is still being developed with help from the Kanawha Bureau of Investigation and Nitro Police.

For Walmart workers in Nitro, the details are chilling: Williams went on break to her car and never made it back inside. For investigators, the surveillance video, the family connection, and the prior domestic history have quickly made this more than a random parking-lot killing. The case now centers on how a morning shift at one of the area’s busiest retail sites became the scene of a fatal shooting.