PB man sentenced to life for 2016 bludgeoning death

AVA, Mo. — A Poplar Bluff man will spend the rest of his life in prison for the 2016 bludgeoning death of his fiancee’s grandmother.

Eric Wyatt appeared Wednesday morning in Douglas County before Circuit Judge Robert Craig Carter for sentencing.

The 43-year-old was convicted in September 2019 by a Howell County jury of the Class A felony of first-degree murder and the unclassified felony of armed criminal action (ACA) in connection with the Sept. 14, 2016, death of Marion A. Carter.

The jury also convicted Wyatt of a lesser misdemeanor stealing charge (for taking Carter’s wallet) instead of the Class A felony of first-degree robbery he had been facing.

“He got life without on the murder first” and “50 years to serve consecutive to the life without” on the ACA, said Butler County Prosecuting Attorney Kacey Proctor.

On the misdemeanor stealing charge, Proctor said, the judge ordered Wyatt pay a $1,000 fine.

Prior to sentencing Wyatt, Proctor said, Marion Carter’s daughter and son testified.

“The daughter, Leigh Kirn, got up there and went through the physical, emotional and financial toll that her family has endured through the years of showing up for the trial and sentencing,” explained Butler County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Matt Michel.

Jeff Carter briefly went through what Michel described as the “facts of the situation, how terrified their mother must have been leading up to her death.

“That’s why he believed the (state’s) recommended sentence was appropriate.”

The defense, Michel said, asked for a three-year sentence on the ACA to be served concurrently to the life sentence on the murder charge. Three years is the mandatory minimum for ACA.

That, he said, “was not a possibility.”

Michel said the defense also asked for “credit for time served” on the stealing charge.

The sentence Wyatt received was a “very good outcome,” Michel said.

During Wyatt’s trial, the jurors heard the 911 call made by Jessica Ribbing after she found her grandmother’s body inside her Zehm Avenue home. Ribbing also testified.

Several Poplar Bluff Police officers and detectives testified regarding their scene examination and investigation.

Detective Steve McCane, according to earlier reports, told the jury about how he went to contact Wyatt at the Velma Street apartment he shared with Ribbing.

Wyatt, who was present when Ribbing found Carter’s body, reportedly had been allowed to leave the scene before he was questioned. Wyatt was not considered a suspect at that time.

McCane reportedly testified when he and Butler County Lt. Charles Phelps went to Wyatt’s apartment, they found Wyatt on the parking lot.

The officers reportedly told the jury about seeing Wyatt pull something from the waistband of his pants and throw it into the woods. Wyatt began walking away from the officers, then took off running.

A wallet containing Carter’s driver’s license reportedly was found during a search of the woods.

Officers, Proctor earlier said, also learned Wyatt had thrown a plastic bag in a dumpster outside his apartment. The bag reportedly contained a pair of men’s denim jeans, which had what McCane described as a blood spot on them.

McCane also told the jury about the four searches officers made of Wyatt’s apartment, Proctor earlier said. The first reportedly was in search of Wyatt after he fled on foot. Officers say that is when Wyatt became the suspect in the case.

During the searches, clothing items, including a pair of tennis shoes with blood splatter, were seized.

Wyatt later was arrested and interviewed.

During that interview, Wyatt reportedly told the officers Carter’s bank card was hidden inside his apartment in a vent in an upstairs bedroom and about a pair of boots, with possible blood stains.

Both the card and boots reportedly were found during the fourth search of Wyatt’s apartment.

Police Lt. Josh Stewart reportedly testified regarding a search of Black River and the recovery of the baseball bat Wyatt told officers he had used in the homicide.

During the trial, the jurors heard the approximately three-hour interview in which Wyatt confessed to the crime.

Dr. Russell Deidiker also testified for the state and told the jurors Carter died from blunt-force trauma to the head and had what, “in his opinion, were defensive wounds on her forearms and hands.”