Family podcast about his father's murder leads to arrest in unsolved case after 35 years

ST. LOUIS (KMOV/Gray News) – Twin sisters from Missouri say they are closer to the truth about their father's 1989 killer because the family started a podcast about his death.

An impromptu family gathering in Andrea Lynn's backyard is not a celebration of a task accomplished, but a reminder of the work that remains to be done in the Jimmie Wade Martin case. She and her twin sister Angela Williams are searching for their father's killer, KMOV reports.

“I want the truth,” Williams said. “We can't go anywhere without someone asking, 'Do you know who killed your father?'”

Martin died after being shot in the head following a bar fight in Bonne Terre on October 14, 1989. Justice in the case has been uncertain ever since.

But 35 years later, the Missouri State Highway Patrol's Drug and Crime Enforcement Division said 69-year-old Wesley P. Marler was arrested in connection with Martin's death. He was indicted by a St. Francois County grand jury on August 22 and charged with first-degree assault.

“It took a long time,” Williams said.

The arrest came after MSHP began investigating Martin's death in December 2020, thanks to the work of family members, including Lynn and Williams.

The sisters say they took over their father's case in 2017 after decades of little action. They interviewed local residents and went back to the crime scene. There is a garage and paved parking lot above the former Coal Bin Tavern, where Martin was the night he was killed.

The sisters say there has already been one arrest in this case. David B. White was first arrested and charged in 1989, but three years later, just days before trial, the case was dropped.

During their investigation in 2017, Lynn and Williams met with White, who agreed to release the evidence police had provided him in the case. Williams says those hundreds of documents were critical, but the challenge was getting law enforcement to revisit the evidence.

“We felt so alone. We couldn't move forward. We had all this information but didn't know where to turn,” Williams said.

The investigation became a passion project for the family, with cousins ​​​​Shawn Martin and Chris Hulsey suggesting they launch a crime podcast during the pandemic in 2022.

Under the title “The Forgotten Town,” Hulsey moderated the discussions in which the family presented all the evidence.

“I've known this story all my life. I remember my mother telling me what happened,” he said.

The family's work was so well-placed that they got a meeting with MSHP. Lt. Donnie Crump says the podcast convinced investigators to reopen the decades-old unsolved case.

“Would we be here without the podcast? Absolutely not,” Williams said.

Three years later, Hulsey described it as an incredible feeling to witness someone being arrested.

“I didn't know much about Jimmie before,” he said. “I was 4 years old when he died. Now I feel like I know a lot about him.”

This by no means solves the unsolved Martin case, but it is an important lead that, according to Lynn and Williams, fits with their investigation and current topics of conversation.

When asked what will remain most important to the twins as the trial progresses, they say it is the collected interviews in which people confirm that Martin loved his family most of all.

“Every single one of them said family,” Williams said. “How ironic is it that his family are the ones who worked so hard to get justice for him?”

Marler made his first court appearance Wednesday and pleaded not guilty. He is being held on $500,000 bail.

Marler's attorneys are seeking to reduce his bail, saying their client should be released because he has stated he does not intend to flee. A bail reduction hearing is scheduled for next Friday.

One question that remains in the case is why prosecutors are charging him with first-degree assault rather than murder.

Former prosecutor and defense attorney Kristi Flint says the decision on charges is a question of strategy.

“On the first-degree assault charge, all they have to prove is that Mr. Marler hit Mr. Martin,” Flint said. “They can get the same result as they would with second-degree murder, as far as the sentence goes. So, as far as the outcome goes, they don't really lose anything.”

Copyright 2024 KMOV via Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.