Twin sisters from Missouri have helped make a breakthrough in the cold case of their father’s murder, as police announce an arrest 35 years later.
Andrea Lynn and Angela Williams have been on a mission to find out who killed their father, Jimmie Wade Martin, who died on October 14, 1989.
Martin was fatally struck in the head during a bar fight at the Coal Bin Tavern in the eastern Missouri town of Bon Terre, and the killer fled without a trace for decades.
“I want the truth,” Williams said. KMOVWe can’t even go anywhere without someone saying, “Do you know who killed your father?”
But last month, the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Drug and Crime Enforcement Division arrested a suspect, Wesley P. Marler, 69, who has denied the charges.
Twin sisters Andrea Lynn and Angela Williams (pictured together) have been on a mission to find out who killed their father, Jimmie Wade Martin, who died on October 14, 1989.
Jimmie Wade Martin (pictured) was fatally hit in the head during a bar fight at the Coal Bin Tavern in the eastern Missouri town of Bon Terre, and the killer fled without a trace for decades.
“I want the truth,” Williams told KMOV. “We can’t even go anywhere without someone saying, ‘Do you know who killed your father?'” (Pictured: The girls with their father as children)
Her arrest came after Martin’s daughters resurrected the case in 2017, when investigators hit a wall.
They became citizen detectives, returning to crime scenes to scour the bar for clues and interviewing nearby residents.
A key interviewee was David B. White, a man who was initially arrested and charged with the murder in 1989.
The case against White was dropped after three years, just days before he was due to go to trial, when police apparently realised they had caught the wrong man.
In 2017, Lynn and Williams met with White, who gave them some of the evidence police had shared with him about his father’s case.
Williams said the files were enlightening. His first challenge was convincing authorities that the case was worth re-examining.
“We felt so alone. We couldn’t get anywhere. We had all this information but we didn’t know where to turn,” Williams told KMOV.
Police finally updated the case in December 2020 in response to the family’s efforts.
At that time, the twins’ cousins, Shawn Martin and Chris Hulsey, joined the mission to track down the killer and suggested launching a crime podcast in 2022.
Last month, the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Drug and Crime Enforcement Division arrested a suspect: Wesley P. Marler, 69 (pictured). He has denied the charge.
Twin sisters Andrea Lynn and Angela Williams (pictured together) have been on a mission to find out who killed their father, Jimmie Wade Martin, who died on October 14, 1989.
In 2017, Lynn and Williams (pictured together) met with White, who gave them some of the evidence police had shared with him about his father’s case.
Dubbed ‘Small Town Forgotten’, Hulsey hosted conversations with other family members who described the evidence they had gathered.
“I’ve known this story forever. I remember my mother telling me what happened,” she told KMOV.
“Before this, I didn’t know much about Jimmie,” she added. “I was four years old when he died. Now I feel like I know a lot about him.”
Missouri State Highway Patrol Lt. Donnie Crump said the podcast convinced investigators to resume their investigation.
“Would we be here without the podcast? No way,” Williams told KMOV.
Then last month, police made a breakthrough with the arrest of Marler, in what the family hopes will be the first step toward solving the 35-year-old cold case.
Lynn and Williams said the arrest fit with their own investigations and rumors around town.
They said their emotionally turbulent investigation also had an unexpected silver lining, after hearing the same from villagers when they asked them what Martin treasured most in life.
“Every single one of them said they were family,” Williams said. “What’s the irony that his family is the one that worked so hard to get justice for him?”
The twins’ cousins, Shawn Martin and Chris Hulsey (pictured), joined the mission to track down the killer. They suggested launching a crime podcast in 2022.
Last month, the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Drug and Crime Enforcement Division arrested a suspect, Wesley P. Marler, 69. He has denied the charge.
Marler was indicted on Aug. 22 by a St. Francois County grand jury and charged with one count of first-degree assault.
He made his first court appearance, pleading not guilty, before being held on $500,000 bail.
Marler will next appear at a bail reduction hearing, where his attorneys will argue that his bail should be eliminated because he has no plans to flee.
However, there are questions about why prosecutors are pursuing a charge of first-degree assault instead of murder. It may be because it is easier to prove.
But for Martin’s family, their main emotion is relief at finally having achieved a long-awaited breakthrough in a decades-long murder case.
“It was a long-overdue process,” Williams told KMOV.
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