This week, a West Virginia jury returned a guilty verdict in a trucker vs. trucker fatal shooting that occurred in December 2021.
On March 29, Harold Dexter Rue, 67, of Georgia, was found guilty of First Degree Murder and Use of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony following a two day trial in Berkeley County.
Rue was charged in the death of Florida-based truck driver Reynaldo Gonzalez Mediavilla, 29.
Mediavilla was killed on December 7, 2021, on I-81 in Falling Waters, West Virginia.
Around 9:20 a.m., Mediavilla and Rue reportedly became involved in a road rage incident after Mediavilla cut off Rue after Rue got back onto the interstate after fueling up.
At Exit 23 toward U.S. 11 on northbound I-81, both truckers pulled off on the shoulder. Rue said that he carried a sawed off shotgun when he exited the cab. Rue said Mediavilla took a swing at him, and Rue said that he hit Mediavilla in the head with the shotgun. As the altercation continued, Rue fired two shots, striking Mediavilla.
The Herald-Mail reports that Rue took Mediavilla’s wallet “so I would know who he was,” then left the scene because he had a load to deliver to Pennsylvania.
Mediavilla died at the scene.
Rue was detained by Pennsylvania State Police in Carlisle and returned to West Virginia.
The Berkeley County Prosecuting Attorney – WV also says that Rue is the primary suspect in an armed robbery that occurred in Chesterfield, Virginia, on December 5, 2021.
The jury recommended life in prison without the possibility of parole after they were asked to consider “Rue’s violent criminal history, the callousness of the murder of Mr. Mediavilla and the lasting impact his death will have on his family, as well as the jury’s opportunity to ensure that Rue never has the opportunity to hurt anyone else.”
Sentencing is scheduled for June 5, 2023, at 2:00 p.m.