The Pocahontas resident was shot and killed in his very own apartment. His neighbors did not notice Travis’ absence for a week due to his isolated nature.
Travis was fatally shot in his apartment by an attacker who had seemingly forced his way inside.
When he was alive, Travis, 34, resided alone in his apartment and did not interact with his neighbors daily.
His deceased body was discovered a week after his brutal murder. While the victim was unresponsive and declared dead once first responders reached the site, an initial medical examination indicated the presence of bullet wounds.
Later, an autopsy determined that Travis was shot twice at close range with a 9mm handgun, which ended his life instantly.
Moreover, while his body lay on his bed, his feet were on the floor, hinting that Travis had just woken up and was about to get out of bed when he was attacked.
Besides, a thorough search of the crime scene even helped the police come across a 9mm bullet, while signs of forced entry established an external connection to the murder.
Travis’ murder story will be highlighted in Investigation Discovery’s ‘Murder in the Wicked West: No Honor Among Thieves.’
The show will chronicle the heinous murder and portray how the police eventually got to the bottom of the case.
The initial investigation into Travis’ murder was pretty challenging as the police did not have a lot of leads or witnesses to work with.
The police did interview a few of Travis’ acquaintances, but since he mainly kept to himself, people had no idea if someone even had a grudge against the victim.
Hence, with no progress on the case, detectives soon found themselves back to square one.
Eventually, the detectives got their first big breakthrough when they learned how Travis was involved in an illegal meth business and had been arrested and charged for it.
Reportedly, Travis was very proficient at cooking meth and had gotten into business with his friend, Jerrod Castleman.
Incidentally, Jerrod was the son of ex-judge Bob Sam Castleman, and the duo would cook and sell the drug from Bob’s farm.
Bob and Jerrod’s evil nature was unleashed when they mailed a live snake to someone who purchased a car from them and later required a service.
This led the police to believe that the father-son duo was very much capable of murdering someone.
Still, when questioned, Bob and Jarrod shrugged off all responsibility and insisted on their innocence.
However, the police soon discovered that Travis was about to testify against Bob and Jarrod, which gave them a very likely motive for murder.
Hence, the father-son duo was brought in for a second round of questioning, and this time, Jarrod gave in and confessed that his father had killed Travis.
Where is Bob Sam Castleman Now?
Although Jarrod testified against Bob and claimed his father killed Travis after learning that the deceased victim was going to cooperate with police in the matter of the meth business, Bob Sam Castleman was never charged with Travis’ murder.
Instead, he was convicted on drug conspiracy charges and sentenced to 40 years in federal prison in 2014.
Moreover, in 2015, 21 months were added to Bob’s 40-year-long prison sentence as he had submitted a forged burglary claim, hoping to get some money from his insurance company.
Currently, Bob remains incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary, McCreary, in unincorporated McCreary County, Kentucky, and will be eligible for release in 2046.
