A 50-year-old Fairmont man is being held on a $1 million bond after police say he put a woman in a chokehold and slashed her throat with a bread knife while she was retrieving her belongings from a home the two once shared. Benjamin Mayfield was arrested on an attempted murder charge following the October 11 attack on 14th Street, and the victim escaped the home before being rushed to a hospital with severe injuries.
According to Atlanta News First, the victim had gone to the 14th Street residence she previously shared with Mayfield to collect her personal belongings when an argument broke out between the two. Court documents cited by the outlet state that Mayfield grabbed a bread knife from a box inside the home, placed the victim in a chokehold, and slashed her throat with the blade. She managed to escape the residence despite sustaining a severe laceration to her throat, police said, along with multiple defensive lacerations to her left hand.
The woman was transported to J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, the report states. The facility is home to northern West Virginia's only Level 1 adult trauma center, according to WVU Medicine, whose Jon Michael Moore Trauma Center treats more than 3,000 trauma patients each year — the level of regional medical capacity required to treat injuries as severe as those described in this case.
Charge Carries Years-Long Prison Exposure
Mayfield was formally charged with attempted murder by the Fairmont Police Department, per the same account from Atlanta News First. Under West Virginia Code § 61-11-8, attempting a felony punishable by life imprisonment — such as first-degree murder — carries a statutory prison sentence of 3 to 15 years upon conviction, according to the West Virginia Legislature. First-degree murder itself is defined under state law as any willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing, carrying a statutory penalty of life imprisonment.
Public booking records reviewed by BustedNewspaper indicate Mayfield was formally processed into custody in Marion County at 10:30 p.m. on October 11, and he remains held on the $1 million cash-or-surety bond set by a magistrate. He is being detained at the North Central Regional Jail and Correctional Facility in Greenwood, a multi-county facility that opened in 2001 and serves Marion County and seven neighboring counties, according to the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Investigation Led By Local Police
The Fairmont Police Department, which investigated the assault, is headquartered at 500 Quincy Street and has been led by Police Chief Michael Beletti since February, according to the City of Fairmont. The department works in conjunction with Marion County 911 dispatch. Municipal police in the city are also supported by the West Virginia State Police Troop 1 Detachment on Lafayette Street, which the West Virginia State Police says provides local support for major crime investigations in the region.
A Pattern Researchers Say Is Common
Judicial risk assessment guides identify separating from an intimate partner, or returning to a shared residence to retrieve personal property, as high-risk triggers for severe or lethal domestic violence, according to the Washington State Courts. Law enforcement agencies recommend that victims request police standbys during property collection for exactly this reason. A 2025 survey by the National Network to End Domestic Violence found that 14 domestic violence programs across West Virginia served 482 adult and child victims in a single 24-hour period, with those programs fielding 164 emergency hotline calls that same day.
Mayfield's attempted murder charge remains an allegation at this stage, and he has not entered a plea in the case.
