St. Joseph News-Press from St. Joseph, Missouri • 7

Friday, October 4, 1991 St. Joseph (Mo.) 7A Irvin told his story calmly Killer described how he murdered his three victims By MARK SHEEHAN Staff Writer Marvin Lee Irvin leaned calmly forward in the witness chair Thursday afternoon, his lips only inches from the courtroom microphone. For the next 45 minutes, he would reveal the brutal murders of three St. Joseph women. The narrative came as part of Irvin's guilty plea on two firstdegree and one second-degree murder charges.

The murders spanned more than a decade and crossed the state line into Kansas, where Irvin buried all three bodies. Circuit Judge Edwin Smith required the oral history of the murders to support the guilty pleas. Special Public Defender Patrick Berrigan guided Irvin through the confessions that started each crime in Missouri with the murder completed in Kansas. Micki Jo West Micki Jo West, 19, disappeared Sept. 11, 1979 from an Olive Street bus stop.

Irvin said he saw West, his sister-in-law at the time, at a bus stop at either Seventh or Eighth and Olive streets. She was afraid and took a hammer from her purse and threw it at him when he approached. He beat her and then took her to the old Sister's Hospital at Tenth and Powell streets for treatment. But when they got to the hospital, Irvin testified, West called Irvin's son a "black bastard." Irvin lost his temper and stabbed West four times in the chest with a knife he had under the car seat. He then took her to a secluded farm near his boyhood home three miles northeast of Highland, Kan.

"I took Miss West out and walked her to the cornfield," Irvin testified. made walk inside it and then shot her twice in the head with a 12-gauge shotgun." Patricia Diane Rese Patricia Diane Rose, 31, disappeared Sept. 1 from Brew's Bluetown Tavern, 1002 S. Tenth St. Irvin said he saw Rose passed out at the bar earlier that evening.

He returned at closing to buy a 12-pack of beer. When he came out, he said found Rose sitting in his 1977 Datsun, which she mistook for her boyfriend's car. Irvin said Rose agreed to go for a ride with him to drink some beer. The couple was traveling south on Interstate 29 somewhere before Faucett when, Irvin said, Rose asked to go back to St. Joseph to buy drugs.

Irvin said the request angered him. Then Rose became upset and began complaining about her problems with her boyfriend. "It was like she thought I was him," Irvin testified. He lost his temper and beat her badly enough that he decided she had to be killed. He put her in the car trunk and drove to the farm near Highland.

"I had her walk out into the cornfield and then beat her with a four-way tire iron until she was dead," Irvin said. Crystal Lynn Simmons Crystal Lynn Simmons, 33, disappeared from Tavern, 821 N. Fourth on Oct. 30, 1990. Irvin testified that Simmons approached him at the bar.

They agreed to buy some beer and go driving in Irvin's 1974 Ford pickup. While driving through the back roads of southern Buchanan County, Simmons found an address book with Irvin's address and phone number in the truck's glovebox. She told Irvin she was going to call him and visit his house. He said he became angry and hit her in the face after she continued to tease him about the visit and acted like she was going to hit him with a claw hammer she had found in the truck. Irvin said he was afraid Simmons would turn him in for assault and, in doing so, trigger the revocation of his parole from Iowa on an assault charge.

He decided to take Simmons to the Kansas farm where he planned to kill her. "I struck her repeatedly about the head with the hammer," Irvin told the court. Democrats to hear Youngdahl and Kelly St. Joseph Police Chief Arthur Kelly and former state representative Mark Youngdahl will speak Saturday at the regular monthly meeting of the Buchanan County Democrat Club. The meeting will be 8:30 a.m.

at Restaurant, 1918 Frederick Ave. Irvin enters guilty plea to avoid death penalty Continued from page 1A in jail for just two of the deaths. Circuit Judge Edwin Smith sentenced Irvin to three life sencannot be paroled until he has served 50 years each for the first-degree murders of Rose and Simmons. The consecutive prison terms mean Irvin would be 142 years old before beginning his life sentence in the seconddegree murder of West. Seconddegree murder allows parole based on good behavior.

Smith ordered Irvin transferred to the state Department of Corrections as soon as possible. "Most people will agree that the final judgment on what we do here will come after this life," Smith said. "You will have a lifetime, whatever lifetime you have, to think about that judgment day." Irvin showed no emotion at the final reading of the sentence nor did he express any remorse throughout almost an hourlong personal narrative of the crimes. Indeed, before the hearing, Irvin laughed as he discussed with an investigator the possibility of conjugal visits in prison. Buchanan County Prosecutor Dwight Scroggins said Irvin's lack of emotion could have been expected.

Irvin was arrested Nov. 9, 1990. Irvin's pleas were the product of negotiations that began Wednesday morning at Irvin's request. Irvin had just a month to go before his trial and no further chance of delay. Prosecutors say there had been no plea agree- Staff photo by ERIC KEITH Family and friends of Marvin Irvin left the courthouse after listening to his story about the murders.

Locke Continued from page 1A bus to take for her 6 a.m. shift at the St. Joseph State Hospital. Three hours later, Irvin and two other men took Ruth Ann out of her hiding place in the motel. Family members believe Irvin beat Micki Jo into disclosing Ruth Ann's whereabouts.

Irvin's confession matches Locke's account with several broad exceptions. Specifically, Irvin claims that he didn't know why Micki Jo was afraid of him. Irvin also testified that he stabbed Micki Jo after she called his son a "black bastard." Locke said that was a lie. "She would never call that little boy a bastard," Locke said. "She thought the world of that little boy." Circuit Judge Edwin Smith sentenced Irvin to life in prison for the -degree murder of Micki Jo.

The sentence would allow Irvin to apply for parole. But first he must complete two firstdegree life sentences for other murders, in which no parole is allowed for 50 years. Still, Locke said he believed Irvin deserved the death penalty. "I'm satisfied," Locke said. "But it's all we're going to get.

"At least, we can get her remains now and give her a proper burial." Irvin took investigators to a farm near his boyhood home northeast of Highland, Thursday morning to point out where West is buried. Authorities say they will renew the search for the remains as soon as possible. Kansas highway projects funded Associated Press WASHINGTON Three Kansas highway projects will receive $7.6 million in federal money this year under a compromise spending bill approved Thursday by a House-Senate negotiating committee. Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, announced the panel had agreed to finance these projects in Kansas: $3.6 million for construction of an interchange at Interstate 435 Nall Avenue in Overland Park. $2.6 million for an interchange at Interstate 135 and Magnolia Road in Salina.

$1.4 million for engineering and land acquisition for a fivemile highway in southeastern Kansas to connect Riverton to Interstate 44 in Missouri. A 45010 AMINES "Your Full Line. Paint Store' Durable Lasting Tough Washable Robert J. BROWN LUMBER M-F Sat. 801 So.

5th 232-6752 Burial site Missoury River Highland Wathena Troy DONIPHAN St. COUNTY Joseph Atchison The women were buried en the former Irvin family 1s 1e to to to se at r- ds ng al rd ng ly ISne r- 1.3 ng ia, nd an of on etnt lia by ns nd ed farm northeast of Highland. ment on the table until Irvin initiated action. In exchange for confessing to West's death, the state agreed to dismiss two armed criminal action charges and waive the death penalty in the two first-degree murders. Both sides got something out of the plea bargain.

Of critical importance was his confession to West's slaying. But the state also avoided a trial that could have cost more than $100,000. Irvin dodged a chance at the electric chair. "I don't know that there is any kind of plea bargain that you can be pleased with when it involves the death of three innocent victims," Scroggins said. Rose Simmons West $100 SAYS THIS I IS THE HOTTEST CELLULAR PHONE DEAL IN TOWN.

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