The pregnant victim reached a rural road after regaining consciousness, setting in motion an attempted-murder case that ended with four guilty pleas.
RIPLEY, W.Va. — The criminal case that ended with Logan Willis facing as many as 36 years in prison began with a development he apparently did not expect: The pregnant woman he had left unconscious in woods near Kenna woke up, reached a road and found help.
That survival changed the course of the June 6, 2025, investigation. Willis had already driven away and later told a Jackson County 911 dispatcher that he believed he had killed his estranged girlfriend. Instead, motorists found her alive, and emergency crews transported her to a Charleston hospital. More than a year later, Willis, 22, pleaded guilty to attempted murder, two counts of malicious assault and domestic battery. Fifth Circuit Judge Lora Dyer sentenced him July 28 to consecutive terms totaling eight to 36 years.
Authorities said the woman regained consciousness after being left in a wooded area near Kenna. Seriously injured, she made her way toward Pigeon Roost Road and attempted to attract the attention of passing drivers. A motorist called 911 after seeing her. Another person stopped and remained with her. The emergency recordings later released publicly documented the effort to get deputies and medical personnel to the right location while the woman tried to explain what had happened.
She told the person helping her that she was pregnant and was afraid Willis might return, according to accounts of the recordings. The emergency dispatcher had information the woman did not yet have: Law enforcement was already on the way to Willis at another location. That knowledge allowed the response center to reassure the caller while medical help was being sent. The woman’s appearance on the road also showed authorities that the incident Willis was describing elsewhere had not ended in a death.
Willis had gone to a gas station in the Kenna area with the young child he shared with the woman. He contacted 911 and said he believed he had killed the child’s mother after an altercation. In the recorded call, Willis described a disagreement involving their son and acknowledged that he began hitting the woman during the confrontation. A dispatcher asked him to remain where he was and kept him on the line while a deputy traveled to the station.
Jackson County Sheriff Ross Mellinger later said his department was suddenly dealing with two connected emergencies. Deputies needed to take Willis into custody and make sure the child with him was safe. At the same time, responders needed to locate the woman, address her injuries and determine where the attack had occurred. The two sets of emergency calls gave investigators both ends of the developing case before they had completed work at the original scene.
The woman’s condition showed the seriousness of what investigators believed had happened before she reached the road. Authorities said Willis repeatedly beat and strangled her until she lost consciousness. The criminal complaint said he indicated that he continued the assault until she stopped breathing. Officials said Willis then moved her into the woods and left believing she had died. Public reports described her injuries as severe but did not publish a full medical account, and later reporting has avoided unnecessary graphic detail.
She was taken to CAMC General Hospital in Charleston. Early coverage described her condition as very critical. Mellinger also said she was in the late stages of pregnancy, raising concern for both her health and the pregnancy. Authorities later indicated she was recovering, but the public record remains limited. Sentencing reports reviewed for this article did not provide a verified account of the pregnancy’s outcome or a comprehensive update on her long-term medical condition.
Once the immediate response ended, investigators provided more information about why the woman had been traveling with Willis. They were estranged but shared a young child. Mellinger said the two had arranged a custody exchange so Willis could have the child for the weekend. The woman believed they would go to Walmart together to buy items the child needed. Authorities said Willis instead drove her toward the isolated location associated with the attack.
The sheriff said investigators believed the proposed Walmart trip had been used to get the woman into Willis’ vehicle. Mellinger described the case publicly as one in which the expected parenting errand was not Willis’ true intention. Because Willis later pleaded guilty, prosecutors never had to present that theory to jurors and ask them to determine exactly when or how he formed his plan. It remains an investigative conclusion attributed to the sheriff rather than a separate factual finding returned by a jury.
Willis’ immediate contact with 911 did not prevent his arrest. He was taken into custody and appeared in Jackson County Magistrate Court. Early reports described pending charges including attempted murder, malicious assault and strangulation. Bond was set at $500,000. Investigators continued working the case while the woman recovered, and prosecutors began moving the felony allegations through the court system.
On July 1, 2025, Willis waived a preliminary hearing before Magistrate Laura Pursley. A preliminary hearing would have required prosecutors to present enough evidence to establish probable cause for the felony prosecution at that stage. By waiving it, Willis allowed the case to continue without that contested presentation. Prosecutors opposed a reduction in his bond. The case later advanced toward its ultimate resolution in circuit court.
Willis eventually chose to plead guilty rather than proceed to trial. The convictions entered were attempted murder, two counts of malicious assault and domestic battery. The pleas eliminated the central question of whether a jury would find him guilty of those offenses beyond a reasonable doubt. They did not, however, produce the kind of extensive public record a trial might have created through witness testimony, cross-examination, exhibits and arguments over individual pieces of evidence.
That difference is especially relevant to the woman’s survival. Had the case gone to trial, prosecutors could have built a detailed chronology around when she lost consciousness, how she reached the road and how the emergency calls overlapped. Defense lawyers could have challenged parts of the state’s presentation. Instead, the guilty pleas resolved criminal responsibility for the charged conduct without requiring jurors to reconstruct every minute of the encounter.
Dyer imposed consecutive sentences at the July 28 hearing. The resulting term of eight to 36 years was reported as the maximum available under the plea agreement. Willis must serve at least eight years before becoming eligible for parole. That does not mean he will automatically be released at the eight-year point. Parole eligibility only allows consideration of release, while the 36-year figure establishes the maximum end of the prison term imposed by the court.
The woman was present at sentencing and delivered a victim-impact statement. News reports described the statement as emotional, though a full transcript was not available in the reliable sources reviewed. Her precise words are therefore not reproduced. Her courtroom appearance nevertheless provided a striking endpoint to the public chronology: A person Willis once believed was dead had survived, participated in the prosecution and addressed the judge who would decide his sentence.
The survival also shaped the evidence available from the beginning. Investigators did not have to rely solely on Willis’ description of the confrontation. They had a living victim, motorists who encountered her after the attack, dispatch recordings from both sides of the response and the physical locations involved. Officials have not publicly released a complete evidence inventory, so it is not known which additional records, photographs or forensic findings prosecutors were prepared to introduce if the case had gone to trial.
The woman’s ability to reach help also turned a remote location from an endpoint into an investigative scene. The person who stopped for her became part of the emergency-response timeline, while dispatchers could compare her circumstances with the call already underway from Willis. Mellinger later emphasized the unusual nature of handling a suspect and a critically injured victim at separate locations at essentially the same time.
Other details remain private or unresolved in the public record. The woman’s identity has not been central to most coverage. Detailed information about her recovery and pregnancy has not been released in the sentencing reports reviewed. The public also does not have a full transcript of Willis’ plea proceeding setting out every fact he formally acknowledged beyond the offenses themselves.
What is established is that the woman survived, Willis admitted four crimes and the court imposed a lengthy prison term. The attempted-murder conviction reflects a prosecution that could have begun very differently had the woman not regained consciousness and reached the road. Instead of a homicide investigation, authorities arrested Willis in a case with a surviving victim whose account could become part of the criminal process.
Willis is serving the eight-to-36-year sentence imposed by Jackson County Circuit Court. The guilty pleas resolved the offenses addressed at sentencing, and public reporting reviewed through Sept. 8 has not identified a later court ruling overturning or reducing the punishment.
Author note: Last updated September 8, 2026.