PARKERSBURG, W.Va. –The Parkersburg community is responding in a big way following the arrest of a man accused in the 2022 disappearance of resident Gretchen Fleming.
The Wood County Women’s Rights Alliance and community members gathered Monday for a candlelight vigil at Point Park.
Fleming, who lived in Vienna, disappeared in December 2022. She was last seen leaving My Way Lounge & Restaurant in downtown Parkersburg during the early morning hours of Dec. 4, 2022. She was reported missing by her family on Dec. 12.
The alliance’s vice president, Caci Petrehn, appeared on MetroNews Midday ahead of the vigil Monday.
She said the community came together to grieve while following the case.
“As a community, we’ve all been grieving Gretchen for three-and-half, we’ve been following this case,” Petrehn said. “You really can’t go anywhere in Parkersburg without seeing signs, searching for her, even still, there still up.”
Last week, Parkersburg Police Chief Matthew Board announced that Preston Pierce, 58, had been arrested and will face charges in connection with Gretchen Fleming’s disappearance. Board said a four-count indictment was handed down against Pierce, including charges of first-degree murder, felony murder, concealment of a deceased human body and kidnapping. Pierce was arrested in Asheville, North Carolina.
Pierce appeared before a judge Monday in Buncombe County for an extradition hearing; however, the hearing was continued until June 5.
Petrehn said the case caused some wariness in the community, but there is some closure in knowing Pierce will face charges.
“I don’t know any woman anymore who go out alone here after what happened to Gretchen,” she said. “Having officially having charges being filed against Preston in one way it’s very relieving, like there’s finally some closure happening, but on the other hand we’re still at the beginning of the judicial process.”
Pierce was considered a person of interest early on but was never charged in the case.
Petrehn also said it was a startling case because it was such an unexpected thing to happen, especially in a place like Parkersburg.
“Its kind of felt like a dark cloud that has hung over our community, we’re a sleepy little river town, you just don’t expect things like that to happen here, so it was a real wakeup call especially for woman living in the valley,” she said.
Chief Board also confirmed that the human remains that were found in September 2025 in Wirt County were Gretchen Fleming’s. A cause of death was not revealed.
Petrehn said the news was difficult to hear.
“For a huge chunk of our community we were still holding out hope that maybe she just left or maybe she’s still out there,” she said. “So, it’s good to have the closure but it is obviously still very sad, heartbreaking that something like this could happen.”
Petrehn said they wanted the vigil to be a place for the community to grieve and support one another.
She said they initially planned to hold the vigil for a small group of people; however, they decided to open it to the community, which received strong support.
“She’s just a few years younger than me, so we have a lot of shared fringe friends within our orbit and so initially when we started planning this it was for that group of people, so those group of folks, and we decided to open it to the public, and there’s been an overwhelming response which is great,” Petrehn said.
Petrehn said she did not know Gretchen personally; however, she believes she would have liked her.
“I’m certain she is a girl that I would have loved, she was involved in different activism groups, she had pictures at the woman’s march in D.C. in 2017, there were photos of her speaking at a protest downtown, she defiantly seems like an artistic free spirit,” she said.