PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — The man charged in the 2022 kidnapping and death of Wood County resident Gretchen Fleming won’t face trial for several more months.
Preston Pierce, 58, appeared in Wood County Circuit Court Friday for a status hearing.
Pierce has two new attorneys and they indicated to the judge it was going to take them months to get ready for trial given a large amount of discovery evidence.
The judge set the next status hearing for Oct. 26. A trial date will likely be scheduled in that hearing.
Pierce was arrested in May in North Carolina after he was indicted by a Wood County grand jury. He waived extradition.
A hunter in Wirt County found human remains in a shallow grave last fall. The remains were identified as being those of Fleming.