A Benton County judge sentenced a man to life in prison for killing his Russian fiancée in the woods near Alsea on Easter in 2017. It was a bloody end to a love triangle in which a popular Corvallis bar served as a backdrop.
It’s the second time William Chase Hargrove, now 35, was convicted in the gruesome execution-style murder of then-27-year-old Anna Alekseyevna Repkina and issued a life sentence.
Hargrove successfully appealed the first murder conviction in 2023, sending him back to court. The first jury also found Hargrove guilty of identity theft and theft for using Repkina’s bank card to get money just hours after her death. He was not granted appeal on those convictions.
A victim statement read in court from Repkina’s brother, Anton Repkin, said he was grateful to those who brought Hargrove to justice after having to worry about the outcome of the case for a second time.
“My family was greatly impacted by what happened. Since we lost Anna, my mom never really recovered,” he wrote. “She has a bad cancer, and any emotional distress is very bad for her. This keeps affecting us and our mental and physical health. I hope now that this time, it is really over.”
Judge Matthew Donohue sentenced Hargrove to 25 years to life on the murder charge in a hearing June 18. Hargrove was given credit for the time he has already served since his arrest eight years ago. He faces an additional year of incarceration for theft.
Love triangle falls apart
Hargrove met Repkina, who hailed from Moscow, on a Russian dating website even though he was already dating someone else, Michelle Chavez of Albany.
At the time of his arrest, Hargrove was employed as a mechanic at Lassen Chevrolet and Toyota in Albany. He had previously worked as a bouncer at the Peacock Bar & Grill in downtown Corvallis, where he first met Chavez, who drove a taxi and picked up fares at the Peacock.
Witnesses said the night of the murder, Hargrove was seen drinking at the Peacock, apparently distraught, breaking down in tears and saying derogatory things about himself.
A week prior, Hargrove and Chavez were reportedly seen at the same bar engaged in a heated argument.
Despite being married to an Oregon State University instructor, Chavez became romantically involved with Hargrove, and when he needed a place to live, she let him move into a spare room in the house she shared with her husband.
Chavez previously said in court she and Hargrove had an open relationship, and that she was sexually subservient to Hargrove, calling him “master” or “sir” in the bedroom, while he called her “Mishka.”
When Repkina entered the picture, Chavez said she and Hargrove had talked about including her in their relationship.
At one point, Hargrove, Chavez and Repkina were planning to move in together in Philomath. But shortly before Christmas 2016, when Repkina planned to visit Oregon, Chavez discovered a message on Hargrove’s phone from him to Repkina, saying he wanted to marry her.
That apparently did not go over well.
After the holiday visit during which Repkina stayed with Hargrove and Chavez (and her husband) in Albany, the two picked up where they left off. But when Chavez learned Repkina would return in March 2017, the relationship became further strained.
Instead of staying with Chavez again, Hargrove rented an apartment with Repkina on Garfield Avenue in Corvallis and started splitting his time between the two.
Even still, Hargrove pressured Chavez to leave her husband, leading her to give Hargrove a token of her love — a wedding ring her husband gave her.
But Hargrove reportedly turned around and gave the ring to Repkina, infuriating Chavez.
Hargrove went as far as to take Repkina to the coast for a wedding ceremony, only to call it off, claiming the officiant could not make it.
Meanwhile, Chavez was planning to leave her husband by April 19, 2017, she said in court, and move to Philomath with Hargrove as previously planned, but without Repkina.
However, as Chavez’s self-set date to leave her marriage approached, Repkina was still in the picture, even as Hargrove was saying he would break it off with her.
When Chavez gave him another “choose me or her” ultimatum, he replied with a text saying, “I will have this solved permanently” by April 19. Hargrove told her that Repkina was leaving that Saturday, and he would pack up his things and be at her house by midnight.
He never showed up.
On April 16, Easter Sunday, a heartbroken Chavez went to a family holiday meal and drank heavily. She said that afternoon, Hargrove called her, saying he was in Alsea, ran his car off the road avoiding a deer, and needed help with a flat tire.
She drove out there to meet him and they argued, she said, went for a drive and then had sex in his car on a secluded stretch of road.
By that time, Repkina was lying dead a few miles away, investigators determined. She was found alongside a logging road by a Weyerhaeuser caretaker out walking his dog.
Following the evidence
Prosecutor Amie Matusko said during the second trial that investigators found Hargrove’s fingerprints on the murder weapon, as well as his DNA on a Dutch Bros beverage straw near Repkina’s body, and a bag of KFC trash with a receipt linking him to the scene.
The fast-food detritus was essential to cracking the case. A receipt led investigators to Kevin Thomas, a close friend of Hargrove. Thomas and Hargrove had worked together at the Peacock. Thomas also became friends with Chavez through the Peacock.
It was Thomas who told the authorities Hargrove was in a relationship with both Repkina and Chavez.
Thomas had told investigators he had left the KFC trash in Hargrove’s vehicle. He also revealed he lent Hargrove a shotgun that had not been returned. It was determined later to be the murder weapon.
Hargrove told detectives he and Thomas had gone to KFC for their regular weekly fried chicken dinner. Hargrove said he had spent Saturday afternoon playing video games with Thomas and the evening riding around with Chavez as she picked up customers in her taxicab.
On Easter Sunday, he and Chavez drove out to Alsea together in his Nissan Xterra and had sex in the backseat, Hargrove told detectives, adding that he stopped at the Alsea Mercantile and threw a bag of garbage from KFC onto a pile of garbage outside the store.
In a separate interview the same day, however, Chavez told investigators that she had met Hargrove at Alsea in her own vehicle on Sunday. It was in that same interview that she told the detectives she had given Hargrove her ultimatum about dumping Repkina.
When investigators confronted Hargrove about the KFC trash being found near where Repkina was killed, he asked for a lawyer and stopped talking.
Phone data detailed in court put Hargrove at the scene when the murder happened, as did a witness who saw him driving through the area. And forensic testing by investigators indicated blood was found on Hargrove’s belt, shoes and a pair of pants.
His defense attorney, S. Amanda Marshall, argued that the absence of Chavez’s DNA or fingerprints on the murder weapon and the lack of evidence tying her to the scene did not prove she didn’t kill Repkina, as Hargrove alleged. The defense claimed deputies failed to collect what could have been key evidence from Chavez.
New trial, same result
In this iteration of the case, a jury unanimously found Hargrove guilty of second-degree murder June 6. The monthlong trial saw both sides arguing heavily over evidence and testimony. His attorney has signaled that he may file another appeal.
Hargrove made a brief statement prior to receiving his sentence: “I think about Anna and her family every day of the week, and my heart breaks.”
Court records show Hargrove filed for a change of legal name to Slade Azriel Wilson after he was sentenced.
His attorney said Hargrove was assaulted numerous times in custody and will be targeted on his return to prison, “labeled with a snitch jacket” because of a remark he made about helping police when he was under questioning, which was reportedly included in a TV program about the case.
Hargrove testified that Chavez killed Repkina, saying his two lovers were going to fight that day, but Chavez unexpectedly shot Repkina with the borrowed shotgun that he had in the back of his Nissan Xterra to defend against dangerous wildlife.
Chavez was never charged with any crimes in connection with Repkina’s murder. In the first trial, Hargrove’s attorney suggested Chavez killed Repkina and allegedly used threats of a family connection with a motorcycle gang to keep Hargrove from telling anyone.
The results of the first trial were discarded based on a search warrant issue and the improper collection of some evidence.
This second time around, Hargrove’s defense team unsuccessfully sought a change of venue from Benton County, citing “extensive and prejudicial media coverage” that tainted the local jury pool, including around 50 articles published by the Corvallis Gazette-Times and Albany Democrat-Herald.
“While this is not an indictment of Benton County or its judicial procedures, given the high readership rates and the significant role local news plays in shaping public opinion, it is reasonable to conclude that a fair and impartial jury cannot be secured in Benton County,” a court document filed by the defense states.
--By Cody Mann, Corvallis Gazette-Times
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