CHARLESTON, W.Va. — “It was murder, plain and simple,” Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney for the state Kenneth Bannon says during opening statements in the trial of 32-year-old Markus Guy.
Guy is convicted on four counts for allegedly killing his girlfriend’s mother and brother at a home on 35 Sapphire Drive in St. Albans on February 6, 2024.
He is charged with two counts of first degree murder for fatally shooting and killing Alisha Brooke Carnefix, 39, and Koda Bryson Jarrett, 14. Guy is also charged with two counts of the use of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
Markus Guy (WCHS-TV)
Bannon said evidence during the trial will show that Guy deliberately, intentionally, maliciously, and premeditatively killed Carnefix and Jarrett that day, claiming that by the end of it, the jury will see that it was murder beyond all reasonable doubt.
“All of these pieces will show you a clear picture of what happened, it’s plain and it’s simple,” Bannon said.
Investigators say that on February 7, 2024, Guy and his girlfriend, Shelby Frazier, walked into the Charleston Police Department where Guy proceeded to tell a police officer that he killed a boy and a woman, and that they were dead inside the St. Albans home.
When deputies arrived to the scene, they found the door of the home unlocked and both of the victims dead from gunshot wounds inside.
Bannon said that evidence shows Guy had driven from the Hampton Inn in Southridge in South Charleston on the day of the murder, Feb. 6, to Carnefix’s St. Albans home. He said Guy later picked up Frazier, dropping a Glock 26 semi automatic pistol at her feet, claiming he had killed her mother and brother.
“The evidence will show that the defendants testimony is corroborated by the physical evidence,” Bannon said. “Forensic scientists will tell you that the defendant had gunshot residue on his hands, a DNA scientist will tell you that the defendant had Alisha Carnefix’s blood on his pants and on his shoes.”
However, Guy’s defense attorney Ed Bullman said there’s a lot more to the story that will show that Guy isn’t the “cold blooded killer” the case is making him out to be.
Bullman said whereas he does agree, there is evidence that Guy shot and killed Carnefix and Jarrett that day, there’s a lot of individual details leading up to the murder which indicate that Guy was acting in self-defense.
He said Guy didn’t just get in the car and drive for 30 minutes from Southridge to St. Albans with the intent to kill someone. Bullman said he was attacked.
“It is true, much of the facts are going to prove Mr. Guy shot and killed Koda Jarrett and Alisha Carnefix, but that is not the end of it, and part of the way it’s presented didn’t really reflect the background,” Bullman said. 
Bullman said Guy works on a barge and is only home 10 days out of the month, part of which he stayed with his girlfriend, Shelby Frazier, and her mother, Alisha Carnefix and her brother, Koda Jarrett.
After missing Frazier’s birthday and as it was nearing Valentine’s Day, he said Guy wanted to do something special for her, so he got a room at the Hampton Inn in Southridge.
Bullman said video evidence shows him checking in and then going and getting Frazier and taking her to the room there.
Bullman said video also shows Frazier leaving the hotel with another woman. He said the two went to Walmart in Southridge where Frazier works. Bullman said she and her friend had reportedly been drinking all day leading up to that point.
After about 40 minutes of waiting, he said Guy decided to leave the hotel room. Upset, Bullman said Guy drove to St. Albans to collect his things from Shelby’s room.
He said Guy and Frazier both admit that her mother, Carnefix, frequently drank and when she did, it could often get out of hand. Bullman said this occasion was one of them.
While Guy was packing his stuff, he claims Carnefix came in wanting to know where her daughter was.
When he told her he didn’t know, he claims she started to attack him.
“He will tell you, she jumped on his back, wrapped something around his neck, and started choking him from behind,” Bullman said.
Guy claimed he started to black out.
He claimed to have grabbed Carnefix, putting her in a hold when Jarret came in, hearing the commotion. When Jarrett saw what was happening, he then tried to take a gun away from Guy, Bullman said. He said this led to Guy shooting and killing both of them.
Bullman said when Guy told Frazier and then later the officer what he had done, he was extremely distraught, nearly to the point of becoming suicidal.
“He’s not some cold blooded killer that drove a half an hour to shoot some people for no reason,” Bullman said.
Frazier took the stand Tuesday to present her witness testimony of the Feb. 6 2024 events.
She said she had walked to Walmart to purchase alcohol with a friend when they got to the hotel. Guy was upset with her and did not go with them.
Frazier said when she returned to the hotel room, Guy was no longer there, but when she got a hold of him, he said he would return to pick her up.
She said when he came back to pick her up, that’s when she found out what happened.
“Markus had dropped a gun at my feet and started crying,” said Frazier. “He said that my mom had attacked him.”
She was overcome with emotion in the courtroom while explaining the moment she realized her mom and brother were both dead.
Frazier said she and Guy drove around to several gas stations before eventually returning to the hotel for the night. The next day, she said that she drove Guy to the Charleston Police Department to turn himself in.
An Intelligence Analyst from the West Virginia Fusion Center, Gavin Nichols, also took the stand as witness in the trial Tuesday morning.
Nichols had traced the location of Guy during the time leading up to the murder until he went to the police department the following day by using the cell towers to detect Guy’s cell phone locations.
The trial is expected to continue Wednesday in Kanawha County Circuit Court before Judge Maryclaire Akers.