Joshua Deel faces three first-degree murder charges in Lesage while questions remain about both the new prosecution and his earlier imprisonment.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — As prosecutors prepared a triple-murder case against Joshua Deel for grand jury consideration, court records cited by local news revealed a separate unanswered question: how a man sentenced to 30 years for an earlier first-degree robbery came to be living in Lesage when three members of his household were killed.
The earlier sentence does not determine whether Deel, 39, committed the July 21 killings, and it is legally separate from the current prosecution. But it became part of the public record after Deel waived his July 30 preliminary hearing on three counts of first-degree murder. WSAZ reported that state records showed he had received a 30-year sentence in connection with a 2011 Huntington robbery. The station asked the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation how much of that term he served and why the sentence had ended before 2026, but reported that it had not received an answer at the time.
Deel is now accused in the deaths of his former wife, Shawn Deel, and her children, 18-year-old Abigale Sloan and 16-year-old Dekota Sloan. The three were found fatally stabbed inside a home in the 200 block of Hickory Grove Road early July 21. Investigators said Joshua and Shawn were divorced but continued to share the residence with the teenagers. After his preliminary-hearing waiver, Deel remained in the Western Regional Jail without bond and the case was headed toward a Cabell County grand jury. No later reliable public report reviewed through Aug. 27 confirms that a grand jury has returned an indictment.
The older case came from a robbery at a Huntington business. WSAZ reported, based on court records, that Deel had been accused of holding a knife to an employee while forcing the person to open video machines and taking about $1,500. He was sentenced to 30 years after the first-degree robbery case. Those facts are relevant only as documented history. They do not establish a pattern that can substitute for evidence in the homicide prosecution, and prosecutors must still prove the new allegations independently under the rules governing the current case.
The homicide investigation itself began under circumstances that initially left authorities publicly uncertain about who had attacked whom. According to a criminal complaint, Deel called dispatchers shortly after 4:55 a.m. on July 21 and reported that he and his family had been stabbed. When Cabell County deputies arrived, they found him lying face down in the living room near the front door and covered in blood. He was alive. As deputies searched the rest of the residence, they found Shawn, Abigale and Dekota with multiple stab wounds. All three were pronounced dead at the scene.
Deel was taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center by Cabell County EMS while accompanied by law enforcement. Authorities said his wounds appeared superficial and described him as stable. In the first hours, Cabell County Sheriff Doug Adams said the incident involved four people and appeared to be confined to the residence. He told the public there was no continuing threat. His initial statements did not identify Deel as a suspect, reflecting the fact that detectives were still processing a violent scene, interviewing people and determining the relationships among those involved.
A second phase of the investigation began when detectives were directed back to Hickory Grove Road at about 5:30 a.m. The criminal complaint says witnesses told them they had been outside preparing for work at about 5 a.m. and heard Deel shouting profanities at a woman. The woman could also be heard at first, the witnesses said, but the sound gradually faded until it stopped. Detectives treated those statements as part of a developing timeline that had to be compared with Deel’s account of an external attacker.
According to investigators, Deel offered multiple statements they considered inconsistent and said an unknown masked person had left the residence through the front door. The publicly reported complaint does not reproduce every version he allegedly gave, so the exact differences among those statements have not been fully disclosed. Authorities nevertheless said their investigation led them away from the masked-intruder explanation. By the end of the day, sheriff’s investigators, assisted by West Virginia State Police, had consulted Cabell County Prosecuting Attorney Jason Spears and announced three first-degree murder charges.
One allegation in the complaint points to a confrontation before the early-morning deaths. Detectives said Deel admitted placing his phone under one victim’s bedroom door and trying to take photographs. A victim confronted him about it, investigators said. Deel allegedly responded, “It’s not going to happen again.” Authorities say the killings followed the argument. What has not been publicly established is a detailed motive, a complete minute-by-minute sequence of the violence or a full forensic account connecting each piece of physical evidence to a particular allegation.
Those gaps matter because a criminal complaint is a charging document rather than a final adjudication of facts. It presents information investigators and prosecutors relied upon to support an arrest or charge; it does not itself determine guilt. Later proceedings may add evidence, challenge the government’s account or change the legal posture of the case. Deel’s decision to waive a preliminary hearing means the public did not receive a contested probable-cause presentation at that stage. His case instead moved toward grand jury consideration while he remained jailed without bond.
While the legal system focused on evidence and procedure, the deaths affected a broad network of students, teachers and relatives in Huntington. Abigale had graduated from Huntington High School in the spring. Dekota was preparing for his sophomore year. Shawn worked for Cabell County Schools and had also attended Huntington High. School officials announced counseling resources and published statements remembering the family. A friend said he had spent time swimming with Dekota just one day before the killings, and the siblings’ father, John Sloan, described his son as someone who could brighten a room.
Abigale and Dekota were buried after services July 30, the day Deel’s preliminary hearing had been scheduled. Shawn’s funeral followed July 31. Loved ones later gathered for a candlelight vigil honoring the siblings. Those events occurred as prosecutors and defense counsel moved the criminal case into its next phase, underscoring the different timelines surrounding a homicide prosecution: families may already be holding funerals and memorials while the court system is still determining whether and how felony charges will proceed toward trial.
The records also contain a smaller but notable discrepancy about Shawn. Initial law enforcement statements and several news reports identified her as 39. A family-posted memorial later listed a birth date of Aug. 26, 1987, which would make her 38 on July 21, 2026. The difference has not been publicly reconciled, so this report does not state a definitive age for her. The discrepancy does not affect the allegations against Deel, but it illustrates why details repeated during the first hours of a major investigation sometimes require later verification.
The newest case therefore carries two different categories of unresolved questions. One concerns the homicide evidence: what prosecutors will eventually present to a grand jury and, if an indictment follows, to a trial jury. The other concerns Deel’s earlier incarceration: how much of his 30-year robbery sentence he actually served and what legal or correctional mechanism led to his release. WSAZ reported that it had sought the latter information from corrections officials. No answer was included in the station’s July 30 report, and no verified explanation was located in the later material reviewed for this story.
What is confirmed is narrower. Three people were found dead inside the Lesage residence on July 21. Deel, who had initially reported an attack, was hospitalized with less serious injuries and was later charged with three counts of first-degree murder. Detectives cited witness statements, alleged inconsistencies and evidence collected from the residence. Deel waived his preliminary hearing July 30 and remained jailed without bond as the matter moved toward a grand jury. Until further court action is made public, the murder charges remain unproven allegations and the prosecution remains in its pretrial stage.
Author note: Last updated August 27, 2026.