The Shadow
BY DARRELL GLEASON
State Editor
A Covington man received double life sentences Thursday after pleading guilty to capital murder and robbery.
Dustin Thomas McLear, 22, pled guilty to the December 2013 capital murder and robbery of 71-year-old Joe Ray Rumfelt of Selma.
Alleghany County Circuit Court Judge Humes J. Franklin Jr. sentenced McLear to life in prison without parole on the capital murder charge. McLear also received a life sentence for robbery.
McLear was scheduled to go on trial before a jury Aug. 24. He could have faced the death penalty, under Virginia law.
Rumfelt’s body was discovered by a neighbor Dec. 3, 2013, in the living room of his home in the 1400 block of Donovan Street in Selma.
An autopsy revealed that Rumfelt died from several gunshot wounds and blunt force trauma to the head.
Ed Stein, commonwealth’s attorney for Alleghany County and Covington, said Rumfelt was shot six times and struck in the head with a dumbbell. Stein said Rumfelt suffered numerous injuries, including a fractured skull.
McLear was arrested Dec. 7, 2013, along with a co-defendant, Casey Shane Gillispie, 23.
Stein said that on July 30, during an interview with prosecutors and defense attorneys, McLear admitted to shooting Rumfelt.
According to Stein, McLear and Gillispie plotted to rob Rumfelt to obtain cash. They had a previous acquaintance with Rumfelt through the Clifton Forge Antique Mall and had sold him some stolen property a few days prior to the murder, Stein said.
While in Rumfelt’s home around Thanksgiving 2013, they noticed he had a large amount of cash on hand.
On Dec. 3, 2013, they hatched a plot to rob Rumfelt, going to his house under the premise of selling him an antique toy gun.
As Rumfelt inspected the toy gun, McLear pulled a gun on him and demanded cash. McLear told authorities he mistakenly shot Rumfelt while attempting to fire a warning shot to scare him.
Rumfelt continued to confront McLear and Gillispie and McLear discharged his weapon into Rumfelt five more times. March 2014 testimony in Alleghany County General District Court during a preliminary hearing revealed that the weapon was a .22-caliber handgun.
McLear told authorities that Rumfelt was still alive after the shooting, prompting Gillispie to strike him twice in the head with a dumbbell.
They then took his wallet, several hundred dollars in cash and his cell phone. The exact amount of the money stolen was never determined, Stein said
McLear told police that he fled the scene with Gillispie and went to Covington.
However, they later returned to Rumfelt’s house in an effort to clean up the crime scene.
Stein said that while in the house, they stole guns. After leaving the scene, they decided to dispose of the murder weapons. The dumbbell was tossed into the Jackson River and the handgun was buried. Police later located both weapons based on information they received from the two suspects.
Rumfelt’s body was found after a concerned family member notified a neighbor. The family member contacted the neighbor after being unable to reach Rumfelt via telephone.
The neighbor discovered the back door to Rumfelt’s house ajar, entered the kitchen and spotted Rumfelt’s body on the living room floor. The relative later came to the house and found Rumfelt to be unresponsive.
At the preliminary hearing in March 2014, testimony by an Alleghany County Sheriff’s Office investigator indicated that Gillispie and McLear originally intended to rob a local the Covington Pizza Hut. They chose to rob Rumfelt instead after noticing several vehicles in the restaurant parking lot.
Gillispie is scheduled to stand trial for capital murder and robbery in October. The trial is slated to begin Oct. 19.
