Jury Convicts Greg Casto in Cindy Ball Murder
A Wood County jury found Casto guilty of murdering Cindy Ball, whose body was found in 2014, and of concealing a deceased body.
Updated on Nov. 3, 2026 in Violence
A Wood County jury convicted 57-year-old Greg Casto of murdering Cindy Ball, a 36-year-old Vienna resident whose body was found in a wooded area near Sugar Camp Road in Wirt County in October 2014. The jury also convicted Casto of concealment of a deceased human body.
Why it matters
The case remained unsolved for more than a decade before Casto was indicted and arrested in October 2025, and the verdict closes a long-running investigation into Ball's death. It also shows how cold cases can be revived through a grand jury indictment years after the original crime.
Casto faces life in prison without parole for the murder conviction and is scheduled for sentencing at 9 a.m. on January 15. Judge J.D. Beane will determine whether the one-to-five-year concealment sentence runs concurrently or consecutively.
The players
Greg Casto
Greg Casto is a 57-year-old Wood County resident convicted of murdering Cindy Ball and concealing her body.
Cindy Ball
Cindy Ball was a 36-year-old Vienna resident whose 2014 killing went unsolved for more than a decade until Casto was indicted.
J.D. Beane
J.D. Beane is the judge presiding over the case who will decide whether Casto's sentences run concurrently or consecutively.
The details
Casto and Ball had an on-again, off-again relationship that authorities described as tumultuous. Ball was last seen leaving the Overtime Sports Bar in Parkersburg, and her body was later found with a gunshot wound to the head.
Timeline
October 24, 2014: Ball's body is found near Sugar Camp Road in Wirt County.
October 2025: Casto is arrested after a Wood County Grand Jury indictment.
October 26: Jury selection begins in Casto's trial.
November 2, 2026: The jury returns its guilty verdict on Monday afternoon.
January 15: Casto is scheduled for sentencing at 9 a.m.
Legal Context
Cases like this one, where a grand jury indictment revives a homicide more than a decade old, illustrate how cold cases can still reach trial in West Virginia. The verdict shows that long gaps between a killing and an arrest do not prevent prosecution.
The verdict brings a close to a decade-long unsolved case for Ball's family and the Vienna community. Residents of Wood and Wirt counties can expect the sentencing hearing in January to finalize the consequences of the conviction.
The takeaway
Long-unsolved homicides can still result in convictions when investigators and grand juries revisit the evidence. Families of victims in older cases may find that renewed prosecutions are possible even years after the original crime.
What happens next
Casto is scheduled to be sentenced at 9 a.m. on January 15, when Judge J.D. Beane will decide whether the concealment sentence runs concurrently or consecutively with the murder sentence.
Further reading
For more on similar cases, see Violence coverage across West Virginia.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Newsandsentinel.
