By reviving this newspaper, the Refsland family has added to the fabric and texture of the community.
It has been rewarding to run into people in the area who mention that they read this column in the West Virginia Daily News.
I recently saw my third-grade teacher, who recounted that, on separate days, the Giggenbachs brought a flying squirrel and a goat to class for show and tell at White Sulphur Springs Elementary. I think if someone tried that today, some people would probably get offended or tweet about animal abuse. My former teacher said she liked the “whodunits” so this one is for her.
In 2010, 62-year-old Kathy Goble suddenly went missing in Charleston. Her abandoned car was found along the interstate. She worked in the clothing section of Kelley’s Men’s Shop. Friends, family and coworkers were frantic to find her.
Missing person billboards were posted offering a reward for information leading to her return. A poster was placed at her work. After her disappearance, store employees would sit around and ponder where she was and attended vigils together. Certainly, she was beloved by all who knew her. It truly was a mystery as investigators considered all possible leads and potential suspects. However, one person remained under the radar.
About two years after Goble went missing, I happened to be with my friend who was a TV reporter, as we had just lunched at a popular greasy diner on the West Side. Afterward, we went across the street to Kelley’s Men’s Shop so I could try on some $300 Allen Edmonds dress shoes. These are well-made dress shoes that last a long time. My $50 cheap ones kept wearing out in a year. This was a big purchase for me and I wanted to get it right. A rather jolly shoe salesman had me try on several pairs. None of the shoes fit quite right. In fact, one pair was so long that I kept tripping in the store as I walked around.
The shoe salesman said those particular shoes fit me perfectly and explained to me that since he had been selling Allen Edmonds for decades, if he said the shoes fit, they did. We left without buying shoes and I told my friend “that guy is kind of kooky, who is he to tell me what shoes fit my feet?”
I envisioned tripping down a flight of stairs at the courthouse.
About a month later, I received a text from the reporter who said “It’s the shoe salesman!”
Charles March, 60-years-old, had sold shoes at Kelley’s for 30 years and Kathy Goble had worked there for 10 years. Investigators were at March’s residence where they were unearthing Goble’s remains.
March had tied her up with neckties, strangled her and placed a plastic bag over her head all night to ensure she was dead. He then placed her body in a bathtub, dismembered her by sawing off her legs and arms and then severed her head from her body. He buried the “carcass” (his words) and other body parts in his back yard, under his bedroom window, with some body parts wrapped in tin foil and a blanket.
When his son would visit and go near that area, March told him to stay away from it. His son later noticed a bone coming out of the ground and called the police. During his confession, March said Goble had wanted him to kill her (yeah, right). Watch the Investigation Discovery Channel or Betrayed “Suited for Murder” for several shows on this case.
The case fell to the judge I was assigned to and I became the lead prosecutor on it. The elected prosecutor joined in as my co-counsel. I disclosed to defense counsel the attempted shoe purchase.
As the case proceeded to trial, the defendant attempted suicide by jumping off of a second-tier railing at the regional jail, however, he landed on his feet, breaking his ankles, etc. He later had to be wheeled into court on a gurney for court proceedings.
That case necessitated a trip to Washington, D.C., to meet with the world’s leading forensic anthropology osteologist at the Smithsonian Institute, who specialized in bone-related deaths. We had to compare the teeth in the saw found in March’s residence to the cut marks on her bones.
March eventually pled guilty. At sentencing, I told the court that March’s last breath should be taken as he looked up at a prison ceiling. He received a life sentence. However, he died just a few years later of cancer.
