Deputies: Victim shot in back of head with .44 revolver in Monongalia County homicide

UPDATE (4/26/2024, 10:23 a.m.):

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) — The criminal complaint for a murder arrest in Morgantown has been released.

In that complaint, deputies with the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department stated that they arrived at a residence on Falling Water Lane in Cheat Lake for a call of a shooting on April 19.

When deputies arrived, they found Jennifer Hribar, 39, deceased inside the residence and began an investigation, during which time they were able to locate a Taurus .44 with “two spent shell casing and three unfired bullets,” the complaint states.

Deputies noted that Hribar “sustained at least one gunshot wound,” and “it was later found that the victim was shot in the back of the head”; also, the initial caller and husband to the victim, Rick Cordes, 49, of Morgantown, “was the only other person present at the residence before, during and after Hribar was shot.”

When interviewed, Cordes “provided multiple statements,” but his “version of the events directly before and when the victim was shot changed several times during these statements” and in one of those statements, Cordes “stated that he had contact with the grip of the revolver and that it was possible either his or both of their fingers pulled the trigger,” according to the complaint.

On April 20, deputies obtained footage and testimony from two separate restaurants Cordes and Hribar had been on the date of Hribar’s alleged murder, and from that, deputies were able to note that “a verbal domestic took place at both locations” and that Cordes “appeared to be the predominant aggressor during both of these incidents,” deputies said.

Cordes has been charged with first-degree murder. He is being held in North Central Regional Jail.

ORIGINAL (4/25/2024, 2:35 p.m.):

CHEAT LAKE, W.Va. (WBOY) — A man has been charged with first degree murder in the fatal shooting that happened in Cheat Lake over the weekend .

According to a press release from the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Office, Rick Cordes, 49 of Morgantown, was charged with shooting and killing his wife, 39-year-old Jennifer Hribar.

The shooting happened at approximately 8:30 p.m. on Friday, April 19 on Falling Water Lane, which is in Cheat Lake, according to an earlier press release from the sheriff’s office. That release also said that Hribar died from a gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The investigation is still ongoing, and anyone with information should contact the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Office at 304-291-7260.

As of 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, Cordes was not listed in the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation database.

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