The Nightmare in Parkersburg
In July 1983, Leslie Marty was a 20 year old woman trying to raise her son and move on from a toxic relationship. Mark Hannah was the man who turned her life into a nightmare, kidnapping her at gunpoint from a friend’s house while she was wearing nothing but a bathing suit. For years, he played games with the justice system, claiming she had simply run off with his money while they were at a motel in Ohio. Even without a body, the state eventually secured a murder conviction in 1998, but the question of where Leslie was remained a heavy shadow over her family for more than thirty years.
“Imagine waiting 35 years for closure and the man responsible for the decades of pain your family endured is still trying to find a way out of prison.”
The Suede Couch that Cracked the Case
You wouldn’t think a $32,000 blue suede couch in a judge’s office would have anything to do with a cold case murder, but in West Virginia, truth is stranger than fiction. A massive spending scandal involving the state Supreme Court, nicknamed Couchgate, was all over the local news in 2017. Mark Hannah was watching those reports from his prison cell and decided he wanted to talk to investigative reporter Kenny Bass. This narcissistic need for attention finally led to a breakthrough as Hannah gave specific directions to a roadside park in Belpre, Ohio.
“The reporting from WCHS on the corruption and overspending was the reason Mark Hannah reached out to the news station to tell his side of the story.”
Bringing Leslie Home
On November 7, 2018, the long search finally ended. In a shallow grave exactly 30 steps from where Hannah said she would be, investigators found a blanket containing Leslie’s remains. She was still in the bathing suit she wore the night she was taken, and two bullets confirmed the violent end she met at Hannah’s hands. While Hannah continues to file endless appeals and make excuses from prison, Leslie’s family has turned their grief into a mission. They want people to remember Leslie not just as a victim, but as the fun loving helper she was, and they encourage support for domestic violence intervention to keep others safe.
“She didn’t want him anymore so he made sure no one could have her.”
If you want to see the complete investigation and hear more about the legal battles that followed this discovery, you should definitely watch the original video.
