The mother of an up-and-coming country star was stabbed to death after a stranger broke into her Virginia home and attacked her and her husband, according to authorities.
Holly Hatcher, 62, whose son is music artist Spencer Hatcher, was murdered in her home north of Harrisonburg last Sunday by 41-year-old Kevin Moses Walker, WTVR reported.
Her husband, Michael Hatcher, 65, was also wounded in the terrifying attack just before midnight on Aug. 3, but managed to shoot Walker dead after retrieving a handgun from his vehicle.
“This is a highly unusual, apparently completely random [attack] with an individual with no known history of violent behavior of any kind, or even criminal behavior of any kind,” Rockingham County Sheriff Bryan Hutcheson told a press conference.
Two days before the killings, Walker, of Pikesville, Maryland, rented a campsite at Endless Caverns in New Market, VA, and bought a large knife at a nearby Walmart, according to investigators.
The day before the killing, Walker’s abandoned vehicle was discovered near Endless Caverns by Virginia State Police after cops say he rammed into the store there, but didn’t steal anything.
Patrol vehicles and a drone were deployed, but there was no sign of him, and police had no idea of the horror that was about to unfold.
“There was no indication of any violence or potential for any violence from the offender that the Virginia State Police became aware of throughout that investigation,” Hutcheson said at the press conference.
First responders found Michael Hatcher outside his home with visible injuries, while Walker was lying deceased in the driveway.
Holly Hatcher was discovered inside the house with fatal stab wounds.
“There’s going to be questions that will never be answered, but all I can tell you is we’ve cried, we’ve hurt, and we’ve hugged, and we have found more love than we have ever known has existed between us, and between you,” Michael Hatcher told the press conference in an emotional statement.
Spencer Hatcher, who also appeared at the press conference beside his father, announced on social media he was canceling several upcoming shows.
“It is with a heavy heart and overwhelming sadness that – due to a monumental loss in our family — I must cancel my upcoming shows at VOA Country Music Fest in Butler County, OH (8/8) and at Rockingham County Fair in Harrisonburg, VA (8/11 &8/12),” he said in the Instagram post.
Authorities are still investigating a motive for the slaying, Sheriff Hutcheson said.
Holly Hatcher has been remembered as a beloved teacher in the rural Virginia community where she worked for the past 19 years.
“She poured her heart into her work, positively impacting countless students and colleagues. Her loss is deeply felt by the entire Rockingham County Public Schools (RCPS) family,” a tribute on Facebook read.
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