Wood County, WV (WOAY) A man long considered a person of interest in the disappearance of a Wood County woman has now been indicted in her death.
A Wood County grand jury indicted 58-year-old Preston Pierce on charges including first-degree murder, felony murder, kidnapping, and concealment of a dead body in connection to the 2022 disappearance of 27-year-old Gretchen Fleming.
Parkersburg police say Fleming was last seen leaving a downtown Parkersburg bar with Pierce in December of 2022.
Investigators say Pierce quickly became a person of interest and remained the focus of an extensive three-and-a-half-year investigation.
Authorities also confirmed Friday that human remains discovered in Wirt county last year were positively identified as Fleming.
Pierce was arrested Friday in Asheville, North Carolina, where he is awaiting extradition back to West Virginia.
Investigators say Fleming’s purse and phone were recovered shortly after her disappearance, but detectives spent years searching for enough evidence to make an arrest.
