The mother of an aspiring country star died in a home invasion stabbing in the family's home in Virginia's historic Shenandoah Valley before his father, who was also injured in the attack, grabbed a handgun and fatally shot the attacker, according to local authorities.
The intruder killed Holly Hatcher, a 62-year-old former teacher, before her husband, Michael Hatcher, 65, fired the fatal shot around midnight on Sunday, Aug. 3. Their 31-year-old son Spencer Hatcher, an up-and-coming country crooner, canceled several upcoming shows as his family deals with his mother's death.
"Speaking personally, this is 31 years in law enforcement for me, I have never seen anything like this in my entire career, just the way the unusual, unique and just crazy situation that this turned out to be," Rockingham County Sheriff Bryan Hutcheson said in a video posted to the department's Facebook page.
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The Rockingham County Sheriff's Office identified the deceased suspect as 41-year-old Kevin Moses Walker of Pikesville, Maryland, who had no known criminal history, violent or otherwise, aside from a bizarre car crash just two days before the home invasion.
Hutcheson, who said he's known the family for years, revealed a personal connection to Holly Hatcher.
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"My oldest son had Holly as a teacher in school, absolutely loved her, and I'm sure I can speak for many, many other children she taught over the years as to what a wonderful, wonderful teacher and influence on their life that she was," he said.
Walker entered the home with a "large knife" in a seemingly random and "highly unusual" crime, the sheriff said. Details about what happened inside remain hazy - but Walker fatally stabbed Holly Hatcher before a life-and-death fight with her husband, who had visible wounds when deputies arrived and was wearing a large bandage on his forearm during a public appearance days later.
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The struggle ended in the driveway, where he retrieved a loaded pistol from his vehicle and fired a single shot, killing Walker, Hutcheson said.
A potential motive remains under investigation.
Investigators said over the weekend that Walker had rented a campsite at Endless Caverns, a landmark cave system that attracts tourists from around the world, two days before the attack. He also paid for and took a tour of the caverns before buying a sleeping bag and knife at a Walmart in town, where police saw him on surveillance video.
Early on Aug. 2, state police found Walker's vehicle abandoned and disabled near the park, Hutcheson said. They found damage to a nearby store consistent with having been rammed by a motor vehicle. Nothing was stolen.
Walker had no known history of violence or crime at the time, Hutcheson said.
A house fire on Aug. 3, about five hours before the murder, had no connection to the suspect and was accidental in nature, he added.
In the aftermath, Michael Hatcher said both the sheriff's office and local community had been pillars of support for his family.
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"I've heard a lot of you say that there are no words to explain this, and there aren't - and there's going to be questions that will never be answered," Michael Hatcher said in a video posted by the sheriff's office. "But all I can tell you is, we've cried, we've hurt, we've hugged, and we have found more love than we have ever known has existed between us and between you. Thank you."
In a statement, Holly Hatcher's former employer, Rockingham County Public Schools, remembered her as a "beloved" colleague who spent 19 years there.
Spencer Hatcher signed with Nashville's Stone Country Records in October.
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"When Spencer first came onto my radar, his style and sky-high potential reminded me of a young George Strait, so I knew we had to sign him," country music executive Benny Brown said in a press release announcing the deal. "He feels like the right artist arriving at just the right time in country music."
In a post to his Instagram account, Spencer Hatcher told fans he was canceling at least three upcoming appearances: at the VOA Country Music Fest in Ohio and the Rockingham County Fair in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
"I hope to make these dates up to my fans in the future," he wrote. "I appreciated everyone that has lent their support to me and my loved ones."
