The Body Of Missing Jonathan Foley Has Been Recovered, John Mills, George Marcum, and James Wyatt Charged With Murder

Updated: Mon 9:42 PM, Nov 12, 2012Back to Home Page

BARBOURVILLE, Ky. (WYMT) - The body of missing Knox County man Jonathan Foley was recovered Sunday night.

Foley was last seen Tuesday heading to Lee's Food Mart in Barbourville. Foley was reported missing on Wednesday. His truck was found covered in mud several miles away near a factory close by Knox County Hospital.

Several law enforcement agencies are investigating the case to figure out how Foley died. Three people have been arrested in connection with Foley's death. John Mills, George Marcum, and James Wyatt have all been charged with murder. Officers recovered Foley's body after the arrests were made.

Officers say Foley was killed the day he went missing.

Foley's body was found overnight on an abandoned strip mine off of Highway 225 in Trosper.

Police believe Foley was killed and then his body dumped on the abandoned strip mine.

Troy Golden lives by the gravel road leading to where the body was found.

He says he never noticed anything suspicious on the road last week but says he helped police when they thought the body was in the area.

Golden says the three suspects also live nearby.

“I figured, they know this area real well, so I figured they'd be around here,” Golden said.

Golden says he did not know Foley.

The three suspects are being held on a $500,000 bond.

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November 30, 2012
Trosper man arrested in connection with murder
The Times-Tribune

CORBIN — By John L. Ross / Staff Writer

A Trosper man has been arrested in connection with the murder investigation of 27-year-old Barbourville resident Jonathan Foley.

Barbourville Police Chief Mike Broughton said Thursday Lonnie Joseph Sturdivant, 28, faces charges of first-degree hindering prosecution or apprehension.

He was jailed under a $25,000 cash bond.

“He had firsthand knowledge of the events that took place leading up to the point where the body was disposed of,” said Barbourville Police Detective Steve Owens.

Owens said Sturdivant also had “firsthand knowledge” that the vehicle alleged to have transported Foley’s body to where it was discovered had been taken out of this area.

Owens said a cause of death has yet to be determined, as investigators are still waiting for autopsy results.

“We believe we have worked out the motive,” said Owens. “But why this motive we don’t know.”

He said cooperation during the investigation has been an issue, but Owens and Broughton both hope to see all four suspects brought before December’s grand jury session, barring “unforeseen kinks.”

“However, it will be no later than January,” Broughton said.

Three people face murder charges in Foley’s death. John Chris Mills, 42, and James Wyatt, 33, both of Bimble, and George Marcum, 52, of Trosper were arrested Nov. 11 and remain in the Knox County Jail.

According to the victim’s father, Charles Foley, Jr., his son went missing Nov. 6 after borrowing his father’s cell phone for a quick trip to the store.

Foley’s vehicle, a Ford F150, was found by Foley, Jr. at CSC, and surveillance tape from the neighboring Knox County Hospital showed Foley’s truck and a second truck arriving in the parking lot together, and then the second truck driving away leaving Foley’s truck behind, according to Owens.

Broughton said Foley was killed the night he went missing. His body was recovered off Ed Matlock Place Road near Trosper after one of the suspects provided information during questioning.

Foley was buried Nov. 16 at Tanyard Cemetery.

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March 4, 2013

Circuit Court Judge Tom Jensen set a court date Friday for four suspects facing charges in the November killing of Barbourville resident Jonathan Ryan Foley.

Foley, 27, disappeared after a trip to the store, according to his father, Charles Foley, Jr., of Barbourville, who reported him missing Nov. 7.

Foley’s body was found four days later in the Trosper Community.

Three suspects were arrested initially for this murder — John Chris Mills, 42, of Barbourville, and James Wyatt, 33, and George Marcum, 52, both of Trosper.

The fourth man indicted in this case, Lonnie J. Sturdivant, 28, of Trosper, was arrested around Thanksgiving.

In Knox County Circuit Court Friday, the four men appeared shackled and handcuffed in court for a pretrial conference with their attorneys.

After some discussion which included limited discovery, the trial date was set for Sept. 10.

A final pretrial is slated for Aug. 30.

Sturdivant’s attorney requested the current bond for his client be changed. Currently, Sturdivant remains jailed under a $25,000 cash bond — the attorney requested a change to a fully-secured $25,000 (property) bond.

Jensen declined the request and kept Sturdivant’s bond the same.

Wyatt remains jailed under a $400,000 bond, while Marcum and Mills are incarcerated on a $500,000 cash bond each.

All four remain jailed at the Knox County Correctional Center.

According to Barbourville Police Chief Mike Broughton, Foley was killed the same day he went missing.

All four suspects in this case were indicted in December. Mills, Marcum and Wyatt were named in the first count of the 11-count indictment, charging the three with beating Foley with a blunt object, then strangling him with a belt.

In the second count of the indictment, the three are charged with first-degree robbery, as a death resulted during the course of committing the robbery against Foley.

The third count indicts all four with tampering with evidence by destroying, mutilating, concealing removing or altering physical evidence which could have been used during an official proceeding.

In counts four and five, Wyatt and Sturdivant are both charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Count six indicts Wyatt, Marcum and Mills on first-degree unlawful imprisonment by allegedly “restraining the liberty” of Foley. The same three are charged in Count 7 with abuse of a corpse “by intentionally treating the body of Jonathan Ryan Foley in a way that would outrage ordinary family sensibilities.”

Count 8 charges Wyatt and Sturdivant in possession of a defaced firearm by owning a weapon which had the serial number removed.

Counts 9 and 10 charge Mills and Wyatt with being second-degree persistent felony offenders, and Count 11 charges Sturdivant with first-degree persistent felony offender.

Once Friday’s court proceedings concluded, the four men were escorted out of the courtroom and remanded to the jail.

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