Suspect blames unidentified man
A Fayette County man on trial for killing and sexually assaulted a 12-year-old Greene County girl in June 2006 testified Tuesday implicating an unidentified man in the girl’s death. Jeffrey Robert Martin, 51, of New Geneva told the jury he saw a body inside the man’s truck and the man later told him he buried the female’s body on the farm where he worked, and showed him where.
Jurors could begin deliberating today about whether Martin killed Gabrielle Miranda Bechen and buried her body on a farm near her Dunkard Township home.
Greene County First Assistant District Attorney Linda Chambers rested the prosecution’s case Tuesday afternoon and Martin was the only defense witness who testified before his attorney, Greene County Public Defender Harry Cancelmi, rested his case.
“He said come here. I want to show you where I buried her,” Martin said, referring to the unidentified man.
Martin said he was busy on the morning of June 13 doing his normal daily chores on the farm when he noticed an older, white Ford truck with no tailgate parked along Mount Joy Road near the driveway to the farm.
He said a young-looking man with long brown hair told him he ran out of gasoline and that he had an all-terrain vehicle he wanted to get rid of so he could collect the insurance for it.
The man offered him $100 to help him dispose of the ATV and Martin said he agreed.
“I really didn’t think about it. I just went along with it,” Martin said.
He said he and the man pushed the ATV from the truck bed into the smaller bed of an ATV he used on the farm.
The man threw something else from the bed of his truck into the ATV bed, but Martin said he didn’t see what it was.
Martin said he had one shovel in the farm ATV and the man asked if he had another one “in case we have to bury it.”
The man got into the farm ATV and Martin said he drove to the barn to get another shovel.
He said he suggested riding down some horse trails to look for a place to get rid of the ATV.
Martin said the man picked a spot to bury it and both started digging a hole.
The hole wasn’t deep enough to completely conceal the ATV so the man deflated the tires, but it continued to protrude from the hole, Martin said.
He said the man directed Martin as he backed the farm ATV over the top of the other ATV to try to get it to sink further into the hole.
Martin said it still stuck out of the hole, but the man it was good enough and they started to cover it with dirt.
After it was about half covered, Martin said the man retrieved a helmet and pair of shoes, which is what the man threw in the bed of the farm ATV, and said he had to bury them.
After the helmet and shoes were buried in separate places not far from the ATV, Martin said they left.
During the ride on Mount Joy Road back to the farm, Martin said the man pulled a cosmetic kit, cigarette lighter and another object from his pocket and threw them into the woods along the road.
When they arrived at the farm, the man asked for a gallon of gas and that he didn’t need much because he was driving to nearby Bobtown, Martin said.
He said he got a gas can containing a gallon of gas from a shed and gave it to the man.
The man started pouring the gas into the truck and Martin said he rode the farm ATV to the truck to get the gas can back and he noticed a body in side the truck covered with a coat.
Martin said a person’s hand; some hair and the lower portion of two legs were all that was visible.
“I said, who’s this. He said it was an accident,” Martin said. “I got scared and confused and didn’t know what to do.”
The man then asked what was in the clearing across the road from the farm and Martin said it was a dirt and rock pile.
He said the man asked if a backhoe he saw at the farm worked. Martin said it worked, but the keys were not in it.
The man drove his truck to the rock pile, returned to the farm and then asked if he could check to see if keys were in the backhoe.
Martin said he had resumed cleaning horse stalls in the barn, when he heard the backhoe’s engine start.
He said looked outside and saw the man driving the backhoe. The man stopped, asked if bags he saw earlier in a shed contained lime and Martin said they did.
Martin said he went back to work after the man started driving the backhoe toward the shed.
He said the man then drove the backhoe toward where he parked his truck and he could hear the backhoe running there for about a half hour.
After he couldn’t hear the backhoe anymore, Martin said he drive the farm ATV to the man’s truck and the man showed him where he buried the female’s body.
Martin said the man also told him the hole was 5 or 6 feet deep and he put the lime and the empty lime bags on the body before covering the body in dirt.
In a recorded confession Martin made to police on June 17, he said strangled Bechen on June 13 after she rode her ATV to the farm and told him she was going to tell her parents he molested her.
In the recording, which was played for the jury Monday, he said he acted alone when he buried her ATV, helmet and shoes and the body in different places on the farm.
Bechen’s disappearance on June 13 triggered an intensive search that ended June 17 when volunteer searchers found the buried ATV, which was identified as Bechen’s.
After the ATV was found, police said they interviewed Martin and he said a fat, bald man driving a white truck offered him $100 to help him bury it.
Police, who testified Monday, said Martin eventually agreed to show them where he buried the body and led them to the gravesite. The grave was just more then 5 feet deep and the body was covered with lime and two empty lime bags.
Martin also led police to the cosmetic bag and other items that belonged to Bechen.
Afterwards, he made a confession that was recorded at the state police barracks in Waynesburg, police said.
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