2-month-old baby at center of conflict

Posted on January 8, 2016

Hands locked behind his back, accused murderer Billy Gear kept his head down and his expression blank during a first appearance hearing before Judge Bill Blue Thursday morning.

The 36-year-old avoided the judge’s gaze even as the charge against him was read: first degree murder for the death of Melissa Darnell, the mother of his two-month-old son.

“This was not a random abduction and murder. The victim knew the person who killed her,” Perry Police Department (PPD) Chief Jamie Cruse said.

“This was not a drug deal gone bad. The suspect and the victim have a child in common. This is domestically-related.”

Photo: Perry Police Chief Jamie Cruse, left, escorts Special Prosecution Assistant State Attorney John Weed back to the scene where the body of a 23-year-old Perry woman was discovered Wednesday afternoon. Cruse would not comment on the victim’s cause of death but said they have not recovered a weapon.

Subscribe to our e-Edition and read the rest of the story. Already a subscriber? Click here to sign in.