From Columbia Tribune
Defendant returns for court
State granted a delay in revived murder case.
From left, Johnny Wright of Lawrenceville, Ga., walks away from the bench and his attorney, Cleveland Allen Tyson, after Associate Circuit Judge Christine Carpenter delayed a preliminary hearing for Wright Saturday at the Boone County Courthouse in the presumed homicide of Becky Doisy more than 30 years ago. Assistant Prosecutor Richard Hicks asked for the delay.
By T.J. Greaney
Published December 11, 2009 at 2:56 p.m.
Updated December 12, 2009 at 7:01 a.m.
Johnny Wright, charged in the 1976 disappearance of Columbia waitress Becky Doisy, appeared in Boone County Associate Circuit Court yesterday afternoon after being released on 10 percent of a $100,000 bond in November.
Prosecutors were granted a continuance for the preliminary hearing in the second-degree murder case until Feb. 5.
Wright declined to speak to reporters. His attorney, Cleveland Allen Tyson, said he planned to file a motion at the next hearing to dismiss the case.
Tyson said he believes prosecutors are weighing whether they have sufficient information to proceed with the prosecution of his client.
“My gut instinct tells me that they do not,” Tyson said. “But we’ll see.”
Wearing a suit, Wright appeared with his wife, Marva Edwards, and other relatives.
Tyson said Wright had been at his home in Lawrenceville, Ga., since he bonded out of jail last month.
Doisy of Columbia disappeared at age 23 in August 1976 after witnesses reported seeing her with Wright. A former roommate of Wright told police in 1985 that Wright had bragged about the murder and showed him Doisy’s lifeless body on the night of her disappearance.
Authorities obtained an arrest warrant in November 1985 accusing Wright of second-degree murder, but police could not find him.
Doisy’s body has not been found.
Wright’s whereabouts remained unknown to Columbia police until September, when he walked into a Georgia police station and asked for a background check as a qualification for getting a job. He showed police a week-old ID card with the name “John Wright.” When police in Georgia checked the name against an FBI database, it triggered a hit that said Wright was wanted on a murder charge in Boone County.
He was extradited to Missouri in October and held in the Boone County Jail with his bond unchanged since 1985 at $100,000. Last month, Wright’s family posted a $10,000 bond through a bail-bondsman to ensure he would return for future court hearings in the case.
According to multiple sources and public records, Wright has been living under the name of Eroll Edwards for about 25 years. He is married with two children.
Reach T.J. Greaney at 573-815-1719 or e-mail tjgreaney@columbiatribune.com.
Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy