69-year-old arrested 35 years after man found ‘mortally wounded,’ Missouri cops say
Thirty-five years after a man was found dead in a small Missouri town southwest of St. Louis, a 69-year-old man has been charged, officials said.
On Oct. 14, 1989, Jimmie Wade Martin was found outside a residence in Bonne Terre, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Troopers said he was “mortally wounded” and later pronounced dead due to his injuries.
A person was charged at the time of Martin’s death, but a trial was never pursued, officials told KTVI.
Decades after the incident, a 69-year-old man living in the town of approximately 6,000 has been indicted by a grand jury in connection with the cold case, troopers said in a Sept. 3 news release.
Wesley P. Marler was charged with first-degree assault on Aug. 22 and arrested on Aug. 30, officials said. He was held on a $500,000 bond, according to the news release, but is not listed in county jail records.
Attorney information for Marler was not listed.
Officials have not revealed details on what new evidence pointed investigators to Marler. The St. Francois County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for details about the case on Sept. 3.
The investigation into Martin’s death was reopened in December 2020 after new leads were discovered, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol and a 2021 news release from the St. Francois County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said they believed new technologies could help them solve the decades-old case.
As the case was being reopened, prosecutors asked podcast “Small Town Forgotten” to halt production so they could work on their reexamination, producers told KTVI. The podcast had published several episodes about Martin’s case and is run by some of his relatives.
Melissa Gilliam, prosecuting attorney at the time, told KTVI that the podcast was one of the reasons they started to look at the case again.
Marler is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 4, according to court records.
Bonne Terre is about a 60-mile drive southwest of St. Louis.
This story was originally published September 3, 2024 at 4:47 PM with the headline "69-year-old arrested 35 years after man found ‘mortally wounded,’ Missouri cops say."
