Found Deceased WV - Leslie Diane Marty, 20, Parkersburg, 30 July 1983

[Gardener1850]

[h=1]Leslie Diane Marty[/h]

• 

Marty, circa 1983

• Missing Since 07/30/1983
• Missing From Parkersburg, West Virginia
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Age 20 years old
• Height and Weight 5'7, 115 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A red and blue two-piece bathing suit.
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Marty has marks on her lower back and scars on her right wrist, left upper arm and lower lip.

[h=3]Details of Disappearance[/h] Marty was abducted at gunpoint from Parkersburg, West Virginia by Mark Francis Hanna on July 30, 1983. Hanna and Marty had dated each other, and their relationship was troubled; there were frequent arguments and episodes of domestic violence between them. By June 1983, Marty was seeing another man.

At 6:00 p.m. on July 30, Hanna visited Marty at her new boyfriend's house, gave her flowers and a card, and told her he loved her. Marty told him to stay out of her life.

Three hours later, Hanna went to the residence a second time, kicked in the door, threatened both Marty and her boyfriend with a gun, and forced Marty to leave with him. Hanna said he simply wanted to talk to her. She has never been heard from again.

In 1985, Hanna was convicted of burglary, kidnapping and abduction with intent to defile in Marty's case. Two witnesses testified that Hanna had told them he shot Marty to death. He testified in his own defense at the trial and said Marty voluntarily spent the night at his apartment after they left her boyfriend's house, then the next day they went to Ohio, where they spent the day shopping and visiting a state park.

Hanna claimed he and Marty checked into a hotel in Columbus, Ohio to spend the night, and when he woke up, Marty was gone and money was missing from the hotel room. Authorities investigated his story but were unable to substantiate it.

Hanna's conviction of abduction with intent to defile was overturned in 1989, but his other convictions were upheld. Marty was declared legally dead in 1991. In 1996, after he became eligible for parole on the burglary and kidnapping charges, Hanna was additionally charged with her murder. He was convicted in 1998.

Marty left behind a young son. Her body has never been found. It may be in Florida, as Hanna owned property there.


http://charleyproject.org/case/leslie-diane-marty

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/19340/

Previous (closed) Thread: https://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?222851-Leslie-Diane-Marty-(20)-Parkersburg-WV-1983

 

[folieadeuxnola]

BREAKING NEWS: Authorities identify remains of woman who went missing in 1983

There's a break in a decades-old case, in which a Parkersburg woman was reported missing, then presumed to be dead, and in which a suspect was eventually convicted of her murder.

Parkersburg Police say human remains recently found near the Ohio River in Belpre have been positively identified as those of Leslie Diane Marty, who was last seen at the Parkersburg apartment of an acquaintance in 1983.

Mark Francis Hanna, now 60, was convicted of her kidnapping in the 1980's, then, in another trial in 1998, convicted of Marty's murder. He is serving a life prison sentence.

More details will be revealed at an 11 A.M. news conference by Wood and Washington County authorities, to be streamed live at wtap.com.

 

[Gardener1850]

PARKERSBURG, W.Va.-(WTAP) UPDATE: 12:05 P.M.

Authorities confirmed at a new conference late Monday morning that they have found and identified the remains of a Parkersburg woman who went missing in 1983.

Leslie Diane Marty was 20-years-old when she disappeared.

Parkersburg Police Chief Joe Martin said authorities used new information provided by her killer, Mark Hanna, who remain in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder in her death in 1997.

Authorities found Marty's remains and several identifying items at the former Shell Chemical employee park in Belpre on Nov. 7. They did not release information on their investigation until the Montgomery County, Ohio, coroner's office could confirm the remains were those of Marty.

Martin said Parkersburg police, the Washington County sheriff's office, and the FBI were involved in digging a trench that was roughly 5-foot-deep and 60- to 70-feet-long.

Authorities first found a border used to trim a blanket and then a piece of a blanket. After that, Martin said crews began digging by hand until they found the skeletal remains.

Martin said authorities also recovered a bathing suit and two bullets.

Dental records were used to identify the remains, he said.

BREAKING NEWS: Authorities identify remains of woman who went missing in 1983

 

[KaaBoom]

PARKERSBURG, W.Va.-(WTAP) UPDATE: 12:05 P.M.

Authorities confirmed at a new conference late Monday morning that they have found and identified the remains of a Parkersburg woman who went missing in 1983.

Leslie Diane Marty was 20-years-old when she disappeared.

Parkersburg Police Chief Joe Martin said authorities used new information provided by her killer, Mark Hanna, who remain in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder in her death in 1997.

Authorities found Marty's remains and several identifying items at the former Shell Chemical employee park in Belpre on Nov. 7. They did not release information on their investigation until the Montgomery County, Ohio, coroner's office could confirm the remains were those of Marty.

Martin said Parkersburg police, the Washington County sheriff's office, and the FBI were involved in digging a trench that was roughly 5-foot-deep and 60- to 70-feet-long.

Authorities first found a border used to trim a blanket and then a piece of a blanket. After that, Martin said crews began digging by hand until they found the skeletal remains.

Martin said authorities also recovered a bathing suit and two bullets.

Dental records were used to identify the remains, he said.

BREAKING NEWS: Authorities identify remains of woman who went missing in 1983

So he buried her in an employee parking lot? I wonder how he got away with that. It looks like the plant blew up in 1994.

“Shell Plant Explodes”1994: Belpre, Ohio | The Pop History Dig

 

[KaaBoom]

PARKERSBURG, W.Va.-(WTAP) UPDATE: 12:05 P.M.

Authorities confirmed at a new conference late Monday morning that they have found and identified the remains of a Parkersburg woman who went missing in 1983.

Leslie Diane Marty was 20-years-old when she disappeared.

Parkersburg Police Chief Joe Martin said authorities used new information provided by her killer, Mark Hanna, who remain in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder in her death in 1997.

Authorities found Marty's remains and several identifying items at the former Shell Chemical employee park in Belpre on Nov. 7. They did not release information on their investigation until the Montgomery County, Ohio, coroner's office could confirm the remains were those of Marty.

Martin said Parkersburg police, the Washington County sheriff's office, and the FBI were involved in digging a trench that was roughly 5-foot-deep and 60- to 70-feet-long.

Authorities first found a border used to trim a blanket and then a piece of a blanket. After that, Martin said crews began digging by hand until they found the skeletal remains.

Martin said authorities also recovered a bathing suit and two bullets.

Dental records were used to identify the remains, he said.

BREAKING NEWS: Authorities identify remains of woman who went missing in 1983

So he buried her in an employee parking lot? I wonder how he got away with that. It looks like the plant blew up in 1994.

“Shell Plant Explodes”1994: Belpre, Ohio | The Pop History Dig

 

[Gardener1850]

In an Eyewitness News iTeam exclusive, we hear from the man convicted of that killing. For the first time, he details where he buried his former girlfriend's remains.

For 35 years, Hanna has kept the secret of Leslie Marty's final resting place to himself. Repeated attempts by investigators to question Hanna and locate her remains have failed.
But this spring brought a shocking development. Hanna's lawyer contacted Eyewitness News and said the inmate would reveal where he buried Leslie, but only in an interview with the iTeam.

"Well, we're here. We've been talking about this for several months. You reached out to us and wanted to talk with us about some things. I've got a lot of things I want to ask you but the floor is yours to get started."
"And the reason that I came to you initially was because of your fine investigative work with the iTeam on the supreme court," Mark Hanna, convicted of killing Leslie Marty said. "And you know, I've been trying to tell my story for 20 years."

During our talk with Hanna, his attorney produced pictures of a private roadside park in Belpre, Ohio.
"Well, that brings us to today, so what is the information that you're wanting to share?"

"Well, I have these photos here. Okay, she's buried in Belpre, Ohio," Hanna said.

"Belpre, Ohio."

"If you're in downtown Belpre and the bridge going over and you're heading out of town, this is really on the outskirts of town as you're headed out towards Coolville, Ohio," Hanna said. "You go down this road. At that time this was like a, they had a ball field in this general area. And you went down this road and this was farmland. This has changed up quite a bit over the years. But if you went down this road as far as you could go and then if you, like say you were in your car and you went down this road as far as you could go. And then if you went, as I estimate, probably 30 steps this direction here and that's where the body would be located."

"Could you mark that with a pen, just kind of mark that?"
"There would have been a cornfield through here, this would have all been a cornfield," Hanna said. "This would be right at the edge and you would have to dig down probably, I estimate seven or eight feet."
"That's deep."
"Yes, that's deep," Hanna said. "But if they really go, right really as close as you can go to this edge here, where the edge would be that's where it would be."
"So perhaps it's either here or perhaps if that was the road it could be here."
"It could be over here," Hanna said.

Read more: iTeam exclusive: Part 1 of "A family's search for closure"

 

[Gardener1850]

So he buried her in an employee parking lot? I wonder how he got away with that. It looks like the plant blew up in 1994.

“Shell Plant Explodes”1994: Belpre, Ohio | The Pop History Dig

Not a parking lot. A park.
See my post above for the details.
And he buried her 8 feet deep.
No wonder she wasn't found with any searches.

 

[KaaBoom]

Not a parking lot. A park.
See my post above for the details.
And he buried her 8 feet deep.
No wonder she wasn't found with any searches.

Thanks. I guess my reading comprehension is not good today.