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Headless Body Of Man FoundPARKERSBURG, W.Va. (UPI) — Debbie Hannan exploded through the door ofPier 13 and screamed out to the astonished patrons as they downed glasses of beer:“They’ve killed him! They’ve killed him! They cutoff his head!”In a few hours, sheriff’s deputies and State Police were roaming the woods around the woman s house, where the headless body of a South Carolina construction worker was found.Wood County Sheriff Lee W Bechtold issued a brief statement Tuesday night, saying the murder mighthave “drug-related ”Tentatively identified by Bechtold as Charles Morgan Marsh. 34, Columbia, SC., the victim reportedly had moved in town about two weeks ago.His headless torso was found sprawled across a bed in the five-room bungalow which Ms Hannan had rented Applied to his wrists were a pair of handcuffs. His feet were bound with a strong cord The head had been placed on a dresser.The house was located on Dry Run Road, a rural pocket of Wood County that lies between Parkersburg’s city limits and the Parkersburg Community College and is near W Va 47,Six hours after the murder was reported, police in Wiliiamstown, about 11miles north of Parkersburg, discovered Marsh’s green pickup truck with a white camper and South Carolinatags abandoned on a city streetThe victim's remains were sent to the South Charleston office of Dr Irvin Sopher. West Virginia’s medicalexaminer, for an autopsy at the behest of the Wood County coroner, Dr Charles BarettAnother bizarre element to the murder was the discovery of a message scrawled on the wall of thehouse, reading, “I came You weren’t home I love\(U ”Authorities were unable to pinpoint *‘a definite motive,” but Bechtold said the evidence gathered so farled him to speculate “the murder may be drug-related.”Bechtold said all other area law enforcement agencies were aiding him in the search for the slayer.No murder weapon was found One lawman felt a sharp knife was used Deputies questioned a number of persons Tuesday night in the vicinity of the house and searched the grounds for a possible discarded piece of clothingor other clue.“The house had been ransacked as if a fight had occurred in it,” noted police reporter Ron Loar of The Parkersburg News, one of the first newsmen to reach the scene “The furniture w as all messed up ” Authorities declined to discuss the relationship of Marsh and Ms Hanna, who was under heavy sedation several hours following the grim discovery.
Newspaper Details
Cumberland Evening Times
Cumberland, Maryland, US
Wed, Nov 21, 1979
Page 48
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
CA 15 Oct 2019
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