When Michelle Skidmore let her brother, Glenn, live with her and her son in 2014, her sisterly love was repaid with her murder, her son told a court Monday.
"We were trying to get you back on your feet, and you just came in and killed my mother and shot me, just for money," Jonathan Skidmore told his uncle. "We were doing all we could do to help you because you were family. You destroyed that."
Jonathan Skidmore kept eye contact with his uncle as he addressed him in court Monday morning, when Glenn Skidmore pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in connection with the death of Michelle Skidmore and was sentenced to life in prison with mercy by Kanawha Circuit Judge James Stucky.
Skidmore also pleaded guilty to a felony count of recidivism, since he already was a convicted felon when he shot and killed his sister and shot and critically wounded his then-teenage nephew on Dec. 29, 2014, said assistant Kanawha County prosecutor Maryclaire Akers.
Glenn Skidmore only spoke to answer Stucky's questions, enter his plea and apologize during Monday's 50-minute hearing.
"I would like to apologize to my family, especially Jonathan," Glenn Skidmore said. "I can't imagine what he's going through, but I do want to apologize to him and tell him I'm sorry. I apologize to the rest of my family."
Per his plea deal, Glenn Skidmore did not have to recount the shooting, and charges of malicious wounding, grand larceny and fraud were dropped.
Glenn Skidmore will serve consecutive sentences, first five years for recidivism, then life for first-degree murder, Akers said. He will be eligible for parole 15 years into his sentence for murder.
He was also was given credit for 994 days - more than two and a half years - already served in jail on Monday.
Akers said during Monday's hearing that then-Kanawha Sheriff's Capt. Greg Young responded to Michelle Skidmore's home along Greenwood Avenue in Mink Shoals on Dec. 29, 2014, to find 17-year-old Jonathan Skidmore "profusely bleeding" after being shot several times.
Jonathan Skidmore told Young that his uncle shot and killed his mother with a .45 caliber gun they kept in the home before shooting him, Akers said in court.
Staff in the West Virginia Medical Examiner's office determined Michelle Skidmore suffered five close-range gunshot wounds to her head and torso, Akers said Monday.
Akers said the gun used to shoot Jonathan and Michelle Skidmore, along with three shotguns and Michelle Skidmore's car, were missing from the home when emergency personnel arrived at the home.
On Dec. 30, 2014, State Police troopers found Glenn Skidmore in Logan County in Michelle Skidmore's vehicle, Akers said. Inside the car were the missing guns, Michelle Skidmore's credit cards and receipts indicating Glenn Skidmore had used the cards at a McDonald's and a Little General store, Akers said.
Troopers also reviewed Glenn Skidmore's mobile phone, which showed he was searching the internet for the value of Michelle Skidmore's guns four or five days prior to the shooting, Akers said.
"Following the murder, Glenn Skidmore also searched multiple pawn shops in the area of Charleston, Danville, and Ashland, Kentucky, a news story regarding the murder of his sister and the shooting of his nephew, and had searched 'the typical shift hours of an American police officer,'" Akers said Monday.
Gunshot residue was found on Glenn Skidmore at the time of his arrest, and his DNA was found on the .45 caliber pistol as well as an ammunition box in Michelle Skidmore's home, Akers said.
DNA testing completed in the case was the cause for delays in progress in court proceedings, Akers said after the hearing Monday.
In that interim, Jonathan Skidmore told his uncle in court he'd recovered from his gunshot wounds.
"I'm going to have to live with the wounds I sustained, but I know I'm going to be fine," Jonathan Skidmore said. "I don't know how you're going to live with yours."
Reach Lacie Pierson at 304-348-1723, lacie.pierson@wvgazettemail.com or follow @laciepierson on Twitter.