Arthur Woody Woodrow Palmer III, 38, was found dead inside his Narrows, Virginia, home on July 5, 2021, having suffered a fatal gunshot wound. Palmer had been a sergeant at the New River Valley Regional Jail and had served in corrections for 11 years; colleagues described him as a terrifically positive person and a quality corrections officer who had been promoted to sergeant the previous April.

Investigators focused on Palmer’s wife, 50-year-old Mary Huskey Palmer. Days after the body was discovered, Narrows police, with help from the Giles County Sheriff’s Office and Virginia State Police, arrested her and charged her with second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Authorities say Arthur Palmer was killed on July 3, 2021; Mary Palmer was taken to the Western Virginia Regional Jail and was arraigned on the firearm charge on July 14, 2021, with a preliminary hearing set for November.

No motive has been released and the Giles County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office described the investigation as ongoing. Did anyone in the Narrows area know the Palmers or see something on or around July 3 that could help?