Natalie Casdorph held back tears Thursday as she spoke to the man who admitted to killing her son inside a room at the Motel 6 in Cross Lanes.
Marcus Dominick Curtis, 26, of Dunbar, pleaded guilty Thursday to first-degree murder in the January 2015 killing of Kalvon Casdorph. Curtis told Kanawha Circuit Judge Charles King that he and two other people, Terrick Hogan and Shayla Stephenson, of St. Albans, each got about $1,100 out of what they stole from Casdorph.
King said he would hold off on sentencing Curtis until the conclusion of the cases against Hogan and Stephenson.
In a deal with prosecutors, Casdorph agreed to testify against them in exchange for a sentence that included mercy, which gives him the chance to go before a parole board after serving 15 years in prison.
"I appreciate his remorse," Natalie Casdorph said, holding back tears. "We just want justice. My family has been broken, their family has been broken."
In April, Curtis wrote a letter to Casdorph's mother apologizing for what he had done, said assistant Kanawha prosecutor Maryclaire Akers. The two families had known each other for years and Curtis told the judge Thursday that Casdorph had been his friend.
"So you killed your friend over some money, is that about it?" King asked.
"You could say that, I guess," Curtis responded.
Natalie Casdorph agreed to the plea deal in hopes of Curtis one day turning his life around.
"I hope you will do something for the youth, the community," she said.
Her son had been at the Mardi Gras Casino and Resort the night of Jan. 10, 2015. He had recently gotten an insurance settlement from a car wreck that nearly killed him, his mother said after the hearing Thursday.
Natalie Casdorph said her son had taken Hogan with him to the casino to have fun. He was always doing something to help out his friends Hogan and Stephenson, who were a couple with a new baby, she said.
"They could have just asked for some money and he would have given it to them," Natalie Casdorph said outside the courtroom. "He had given them money before."
Stephenson, 22, pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery. Hogan's trial is scheduled to begin Monday. He's also charged with first-degree murder. Stephenson has also agreed to testify against him.
Curtis said Thursday that Stephenson picked him up on Charleston's West Side and then went by Hogan's grandmother's house and got a gun. The two then drove to Cross Lanes. Hogan was sending Curtis text messages on the way there, encouraging the robbery, according to Curtis.
Curtis said as he walked into the room at the motel where Casdorph was staying, Hogan walked out. Casdorph was in the bathroom. Stephenson had helped Curtis tie a scarf around his face, he said.
"When he came out, my face was covered up so he was scared and stuff. He just kept looking back and forth at the bed, he dived to the bed, which I thought under the pillow was a gun. That's why I shot him," Curtis said Thursday. "Then he dove at me and we tussled for a minute and I shot him again."
Curtis got money from Casdorph's pants and met Stephenson and Hogan at the edge of the motel's parking lot.
Kanawha sheriff's deputies arrested the three near the Patrick Street bridge after a pursuit. Stephenson crashed into a telephone pole trying to make a turn, police said at the time.
Before being led out of the courtroom, the judge asked Curtis if there was anything he'd like to say to Casdorph's mother.
"I apologize for everything I've done. I wish I could take it back," Curtis said, looking up at her.
"Thank you," she whispered.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.