CRJ Inmate Charged With Attempted Murder

An investigation by the Sutton Detachment of the West Virginia State Police and Central Regional Jail investigators has led to a 40-year-old Craigsville man being charged with seven counts of attempted murder.
The charges stem from an altercation between two inmates at the CRJ in Flatwoods that occurred on January 5, 2024. According to the criminal complaint, Mathew Jeffery and Brian Allen Woody got into a physical altercation at the correctional facility. During that confrontation, Jeffery was seriously injured including several stab wounds from an unknown object.
The altercation was originally investigated by Michael A. Wayne an investigator with the Regional Jail Authority. Wayne’s report was subsequently turned over to Trooper B.J. Wiley of the Sutton Detachment.
Investigators determined that the fight between inmates resulted in Jeffery sustaining seven stab wounds, a bruised eye, a broken rib and a collapsed lung. Following the incident, Jeffery was transported by ambulance to Braxton County Memorial Hospital for treatment of his injuries. He was transferred to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown for further treatment of the collapsed lung.
Trooper Wiley’s review of Investigator Wayne’s report and video surveillance from the time of the incident lead the officers to bring charges against Brian Allen Woody of Craigsville on seven counts of attempted murder. Trooper Wiley also listened to recorded conversations after the stabbing where Woody told his father and girlfriend that he had stabbed someone on the day the incident occurred.
Woody was incarcerated due to 2022 charges in Nicholas County for attempted murder.
Woody appeared in Braxton County Magistrate Court on March 14 for arraignment on the new alligations. Magistrate Beth Smith set Woody’s bond at $100,000 cash only. The accused remains in the Central Regional Jail at press-time awaiting future court appearances.