In the heart of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, the small community of Keezletown lies among the rolling hills and farmland of Rockingham County. Situated northeast of Harrisonburg, the area is known for its rural character, quiet residential neighborhoods, and close-knit communities where neighbors often know one another. It was the kind of place where residents generally expected to feel safe in their own homes.
That sense of security was shattered on the morning of Monday, October 20th, 2014, when authorities discovered the body of fifty-year-old Richard Wayne Charlton, known to family and friends as Ricky, inside his residence at Ferguson Mobile Home Park, off Layman Trestle Road. Investigators quickly determined that Ricky had been the victim of a homicide.
Relatively little biographical information about Ricky has been made publicly available. Contemporary reporting provides few details about his childhood, education, employment history, or relationships. However, the recollections of his family and neighbors paint a picture of a personable and generally cheerful individual. According to those who knew him, Ricky was a hardworking man who valued his friendships and maintained a positive attitude toward life.
One neighbor, Winter Garber, had known Ricky for nearly a decade. Speaking to WHSV shortly after his death, she described a man who was resilient in the face of life’s difficulties. Garber recalled that very little seemed to discourage Ricky and that he was exceptionally outgoing, usually keeping friends around him.
Ricky’s mother, Joyce Hoover, similarly described her son as an upbeat person who seemed to have little difficulty getting along with others. Speaking to WHSV in April 2015, she remembered that Ricky was usually smiling and appeared to be in a good mood. She could not understand who might have wanted to kill him. Her recollections suggest that, at least from the perspective of his family and neighbors, there was no obvious personal conflict that explained the murder.
The events surrounding Ricky Charlton’s final hours remain largely unknown. According to the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office, the homicide is believed to have occurred sometime between late Sunday night, October 19th, and the early hours of Monday, October 20th, 2014.
On Monday morning, authorities responded to an incident in the 2000 block of Layman Trestle Road in the Keezletown area. Ricky’s body was discovered inside his residence at Ferguson Mobile Home Park.
The mobile home community consisted of approximately thirty residences. Early reporting indicated that some forty to fifty children lived in the neighborhood, a detail that heightened residents’ fears following the discovery.
Deputies from the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office began investigating, with assistance from the Virginia State Police. By the afternoon of October 20th, the neighborhood was surrounded by signs of an active criminal investigation. Crime scene tape restricted access to the affected area, and investigators moved through the property searching for evidence.
Dustin Allen Garber, whose grandfather owned the mobile home park, told WHSV that the community was accustomed to looking out for one another. Neighbors typically shared information about anything unusual or concerning. He expressed disbelief that a murder could have occurred without someone noticing something.
On Tuesday, October 21st, 2014, the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office publicly identified the victim as Richard Wayne Charlton, age fifty. Investigators confirmed that his death had occurred sometime between late Sunday night and early Monday morning.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner was expected to conduct an autopsy. However, authorities did not publicly disclose the precise cause of Ricky’s death. Nor have investigators publicly described the condition of the residence, whether there were signs of forced entry, whether anything was stolen, or whether Ricky had been involved in a confrontation before his death.
It is also unclear who discovered his body, what prompted the discovery, or whether anyone heard or witnessed suspicious activity during the preceding night.
On October 21st, Sheriff Bryan Hutcheson addressed concerns about community safety, stating that investigators had no indication the incident represented an ongoing threat to the wider neighborhood. He characterized the killing as an isolated incident.
The following months brought little publicly reported progress. There was no announcement of an arrest, no identification of a suspect, and no public explanation of the circumstances that had led to Ricky’s death.
On April 22nd, 2015, the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office and Rockingham County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for Ricky Charlton’s murder. Despite the attention generated by the reward, though, the case remained unsolved.
By October 2016, two years had passed since Ricky’s murder. The $10,000 reward remained available, but there had been no arrests. Sheriff Hutcheson continued to describe the investigation as active, while Commonwealth’s Attorney Marsha Garst urged members of the public to share whatever they knew. Authorities again declined to disclose additional investigative details.
In October 2019, as the fifth anniversary approached, the investigation received renewed attention. By then, no arrests had been made, and Sheriff Hutcheson acknowledged that investigators still lacked the information needed to bring charges.
The sheriff continued to encourage anyone who might have seen, heard, or learned something relevant to contact investigators. Meanwhile, the reward increased from $10,000 to $15,000.
On October 14th, 2026, the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office and local prosecutors renewed their appeal for assistance in the long-running investigation. The announcement came shortly before the twelfth anniversary of Ricky’s death.
Crimesolvers of Harrisonburg and Rockingham announced that a $20,000 cash reward was available for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible.
As of this writing in early November 2026, there have been no new developments in the case.
