Murder of Roy Fuller by Bruce Walton examined by Reasonable Doubt

Reasonable Doubt is investigating the murder of Roy Fuller, who was killed in his Lakeland, Virginia home in 2014. His so-called friend, Brice Duane Walton, was convicted of killing him, but there has been some doubt raised over the validity of the conviction.

On April 4th, 2014, Jason Fuller, the nephew of Roy Fuller, entered his uncle’s home and found the 68-year-old lying dead on the floor. Roy had sustained an incredible 123 stab wounds to his face, neck, torso, and his limbs.

An autopsy estimated that Fuller had died a few days before his remains were discovered. A neighbor said he had not seen the victim since March 29 and that his mail had started to stack up from that date; therefore, the date of death was put as March 29.

The cops noticed that Fuller’s bank debit card was missing from his wallet, and it was this card that led the police to first suspect the victim’s friend, Bruce Walton, was the killer.

Walton was caught using the bank card on several occasions about a week after the murder. He later argued that Fuller had given him the bank card.

The cops examined cellphone records which showed that on March 29, Walton’s phone had pinged off a cellphone tower close to the location of the crime. Walton claimed that was because he had spent the night at his girlfriend’s house, who also lived near the tower.

The prosecution later relied heavily on the testimony of another convict, who told the court that Walton had admitted to being at Fuller’s house on the night of the murder. They also claimed Walton had said the pair had drunkenly argued over money before he blacked out and awoke to find his friend was dead.

Evidence against Bruce Walton was mostly circumstantial

Despite the circumstantial nature of the evidence and lack of forensic or DNA evidence, Walton was charged with murder. He was convicted of first-degree murder, one count of felony credit card theft, one count of felony attempted credit card theft, two counts of misdemeanor credit card fraud, and one count of misdemeanor attempted credit card fraud.

Prosecuting Attorney Shannon Taylor said they were confident that they presented “a case that showed there was no other reasonable explanation for how Fuller could have been killed,” and added that she is “100 percent confident in the case her office put on.”

Walton was subsequently sentenced to life in prison for murder with an additional 20 years for credit card theft and fraud.

More from Reasonable Doubt

Follow the links to read about more murders where the perpetrator’s guilt has been questioned on Reasonable Doubt.

Chad Swedberg was shot dead as he worked in the woods making maple syrup near his home in rural Becker County, Minnesota. The police said his friend, Ken Andersen, shot him from a distance with a rifle.

Mary Elizabeth “Liz” Hermann by Justin Lunsford had spent the night in Cave Creek, Az., partying pretty hard, but at some point, the police believe Lunsford murdered Hermann and tried to set fire to her house. Hermann claimed to be innocent and said drug dealers were the true killers.

Reasonable Doubt airs at 10/9c on Investigation Discovery.