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.