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Quadruple amputee and professional cornhole player Dayton Webber lived an active and varied life before his arrest for fatally shooting a man in southern Maryland Sunday, overcoming a brush with death at an early age that cost him all four limbs.
Despite his disability, he had a lifelong passion for outdoor sports, excelling at youth football and wrestling and even finishing in fourth-place in his weight class as a 12-year-old in the Southern Maryland Junior Wrestling League, according to ESPN.
He would later discover a love for the American lawn game cornhole, skillfully rising through the ranks and earning the title of best player in the state.
How Dayton Webber lost his arms and legs
The 27-year-old accused killer lost both arms and legs as an infant after he was stricken with a life-threatening bacterial infection so severe he was given last rites.
“They had actually given me a 3% chance of living, and the only way that they were able to save me was by getting the infections out of my system,” Webber told ESPN in 2024.
“They had to amputate my arms and legs to keep me alive.”
After spending months in the hospital, Webber returned home and learned to walk “in no time,” his father, Mike, told the outlet.
From quadruple amputee to cornhole champ
The drastic operation saved his life, and Webber went on to pursue all manner of outdoor sports throughout his youth and adulthood, from fishing and sledding to bow hunting and motocross, his social media feeds reveal.
He also played football, wrestled and raced go-karts. But when he discovered cornhole he really found his calling — starting out casually with friends in his backyard and eventually playing at the local American Legion on a regular basis.
“I loved it so much, I never missed a Friday,” Webber said in an article he penned for “Today” in 2023.
“In many ways, surprising people has always been part of my life. I went from overcoming a serious blood infection and undergoing a quadruple amputation as a baby to becoming a professional athlete as an adult,” he wrote.
He became the first quadruple amputee in the history of the American Cornhole League, going pro in the 2021-2022 season, according to the Baltimore Watchdog.
Though the league confirmed to WUFT that he was not an active participant since 2024, he made his mark on the sport — his matches were featured on “SportsCenter” and the “Today” show on NBC after placing fifth in a 2023 championship competition.
How did Dayton Webber learn to shoot with no hands?
Webber’s lack of hands meant he had to learn to navigate and manipulate his world in a totally different way than most people, including how he tossed the beanbag when playing cornhole.
“Most players throw the beanbag flat. Because of the angle I’m throwing from, this technique doesn’t really work for me,” he wrote in his “Today” article, noting he grabs the bag by its corners using the ends of his amputated arms.
“I can feel when the bag is in a certain spot where I know I can release it and it will sail where I want it to.”
Similarly, he made the most of his supremely limited dexterity to become a competent marksman.
Webber also had a penchant for guns, videos circulating online show, including rapid-firing a 9mm handgun after loading a magazine, using the nub of his amputated arm to pull the trigger.
Another video shows him peering down the scope and firing a .54 caliber rifle mounted to a metal bracket on a wooden stand at an outdoor range before celebrating the shot with some friends.
Those videos take on an eerie new prescience after his arrest early Monday in his hometown of La Plata for allegedly shooting a friend who was seated in the passenger seat of Webber’s Tesla.
Dayton Webber’s arrest
According to the Charles County Sheriff’s Office, Dayton shot and killed a friend during an argument while driving March 22 around 10:25 p.m., approximately 40 miles south of Washington, DC.
After the shooting, he allegedly pulled the car over and asked a pair of passengers in the back seat to help pull the victim from the vehicle, but they refused and left the scene.
Cops said Webber then fled with the victim’s body still inside the car.
Two hours later, a homeowner called 911 to report finding a body in their yard, which investigators linked to Webber and obtained a warrant for his arrest.
They located the Tesla in Charlottesville, Virginia, and found Webber at a nearby hospital seeking treatment for an unspecified medical issue, police said.
He was taken into custody and is being held at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail facing first- and second-degree murder charges.
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