Editor’s note: This story was updated on December 28 with the names of the deceased and on January 3 with additional details.
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Two people from Maryland died on December 23, 2022 in what police called a murder-suicide incident at the Coolfont resort west of Berkeley Springs.
Morgan County Sheriff K.C. Bohrer said officers responded to Coolfont around 9 p.m. on Friday, December 23 for a shooting. When Sgt. Lemon and Deputy Burkholder arrived, they found a male and a female deceased outside the front entrance to the main building of the resort. On December 27, Sheriff Bohrer identified the male as August Schillinger, 48, and the woman as Jessica Craver, 41.
Sheriff Bohrer and Chief Deputy Walter also responded to the scene.
Upon investigation, police found that the incident had been captured by the resort’s security video system. It was determined that Schillinger had parked in a remote parking lot on the west side of Cold Run Valley Road and was waiting for Craver, who was an employee at the resort, to leave the building.
Police said Schillinger approached Craver on foot, and when the woman ran away from him back toward the building, he shot her multiple times with two different handguns. Schillinger then killed himself.
An employee at the resort was first on the scene of the incident, and called 911.
Schillinger and Craver had been in a long-term relationship and had an adult daughter, a family member told The Morgan Messenger. Both are from Maryland, the sheriff said.
Medical Examiners Duckwall and Stotler, Morgan County EMS and West Virginia State Police Sgt. Smith and Cpl. Conner assisted in the investigation.
