A West Virginia woman who admitted she helped kill 35-year-old Cheyenne Johnson and hide her body in a deep water well has been sentenced to life with mercy, closing a case that exposed a mix of violence, addiction, and a cover-up that unraveled only after one of the killers confessed.

Virginia Smith, 33, pleaded guilty last year to first-degree murder, use of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and concealment of a dead body. Her sentencing on Tuesday came nearly four years after Johnson was shot on April 29, 2021. Smith also received one to five years for the firearm charge and an additional 10 years for concealing the body, with credit for time already served.

Her testimony was crucial in the October conviction of her former boyfriend, 46-year-old Michael Smith, who was found guilty of second-degree murder. During his trial, Virginia Smith told jurors that Michael ordered her to shoot Johnson during a confrontation that spiraled into deadly violence. A juvenile witness told law enforcement the same thing — that they saw Virginia Smith pull the trigger.

Michael Smith, however, gave investigators a different account. He admitted shooting Johnson himself, claiming he acted after she produced a knife during a fight over a stolen car. He said he retrieved a rifle from his vehicle and shot her in the head when she refused to leave.

What both accounts agreed on was what happened next.

After Johnson was killed, Michael Smith used a belt and ratchet straps to lower her body into a deep well on Virginia Smith’s property. She remained there for days until a tipster alerted investigators to the crime. That tipster was later revealed to be Virginia Smith herself, who contacted authorities as the pressure of the secret mounted.

Johnson had been reported missing, and once deputies received the tip, they located her body in the well and launched a homicide investigation. The details unraveled quickly from there, revealing the couple’s drug use, violent relationship, and efforts to cover up the killing.

On the stand, Virginia Smith acknowledged her addiction at the time of the murder — a fact Michael Smith’s defense team tried to use to question her reliability — but prosecutors argued her account was supported by both physical evidence and witness testimony.

The sentence closes one chapter of a case marked by brutality and betrayal. But for the family of Cheyenne Johnson, whose final moments were spent in fear, the court’s decision marks only the first measure of justice in a crime that never should have happened.