Roy Lee McClure and Mary Frances McClure, his wife v. Lu Ann Dotson and Lu Ann Dotson McClure, Administratrix of the Estate of James Edward McClure, and Kansas City Life Company, Inc., a corporation, No. 19777 (W. Va. March 15, 1991) (Miller, C.J.): 184 W.Va. 649, 403 S.E.2d 197:
Where parents alleged that their daughter-in-law had killed their son and that she should not recover his life insurance proceeds, the Court held that although W.Va. Code § 42-4-2 permits proof of a conviction of felonious killing to bar the slayer from obtaining life insurance proceeds or property from the decedent, if there is no such conviction, then evidence of an unlawful and intentional killing must be demonstrated by a preponderance of the evidence in a civil action.