Preston Pierce was arrested in Buncombe County after a Wood County grand jury indictment.
PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — Preston Pierce’s arrest in North Carolina has returned the Gretchen Fleming murder case to Wood County, where prosecutors now plan to pursue charges from a 2022 disappearance.
The extradition is the latest procedural turn in a case that crossed county and state lines. Fleming was last seen in Parkersburg, her remains were found in Wirt County, and Pierce was arrested in Buncombe County, North Carolina. He has since been brought back to West Virginia and has pleaded not guilty.
The Wood County grand jury indictment came May 15, 2026. Pierce, 58, was charged with first-degree murder, felony murder, kidnapping and concealment of a deceased human body in Fleming’s death. Authorities said he was arrested the same day in the Asheville area with help from U.S. marshals and other law enforcement partners. The arrest did not immediately put him in a West Virginia courtroom because he was in another state. Pierce later waived his right to an extradition hearing, allowing Parkersburg detectives to coordinate his return on June 4.
Extradition moved the case from arrest to prosecution. Once Pierce was returned to Wood County, he was booked and held on the indictment. Local court reports later said he appeared before Wood County Circuit Judge Jason Wharton and entered not-guilty pleas to the charges. The plea preserves his right to trial and requires the state to prove the allegations. It also starts the next legal phase, including evidence exchanges, pretrial motions and hearings over what jurors may eventually hear.
The indictment grew out of Fleming’s disappearance from downtown Parkersburg more than three years earlier. Police said Fleming, 27, was last seen in the early morning hours of Dec. 4, 2022, leaving My Way Lounge with Pierce. She left behind her purse and wallet. Her family reported her missing Dec. 12 after she failed to contact relatives or friends for just over a week. The missing report triggered searches, public attention and an investigation that continued long after the first days passed without an arrest.
Pierce was not unknown to investigators. Police said he acknowledged early in the case that Fleming had been in his car around the time she disappeared but then declined to elaborate. Reports have identified Pierce as a former police officer who also went by Darrell Lott. That history has brought added scrutiny because the man charged in the case once worked in law enforcement. Parkersburg officials have not made that background the center of the charges. The indictment accuses Pierce of criminal acts tied to Fleming’s disappearance, death and the concealment of her body.
The case remained unresolved until a major discovery in September 2025. Human remains were found in a wooded area of Wirt County, about 20 miles south of Parkersburg. Police said extensive forensic testing later confirmed the remains were Fleming’s. That identification changed the case from a disappearance with a suspected crime into a homicide prosecution. It also created a geographic path for investigators to explain, from the downtown bar to the wooded recovery site to the out-of-state arrest that followed months later.
Officials have not released the full evidence that led the grand jury to indict Pierce. They have not publicly stated Fleming’s cause of death or disclosed whether they believe she was killed in Wood County, Wirt County or somewhere else. The kidnapping charge suggests prosecutors allege Fleming was unlawfully taken or held before her death. The felony murder charge depends on the claim that her death occurred during the commission of another felony. The concealment charge centers on the allegation that her body was hidden after she died.
The next stage of the case will likely focus on records and forensic proof. Prosecutors may rely on surveillance, witness accounts, vehicle evidence, search warrant results, digital records, forensic identification and testimony from officers who worked the case. The defense may test the timeline, the handling of the remains and the strength of any evidence placing Pierce with Fleming after the bar. A court could also hear disputes about statements Pierce made to police, including the reported admission that Fleming had been in his car.
Parkersburg police have described the case as long and difficult for Fleming’s family. After Pierce’s return, the department said it was grateful for the family’s faith, patience and support. “Their strength, grace and resilience in the face of unimaginable loss have been truly remarkable,” police said. The statement came after years in which the family waited through searches, anniversaries and limited public updates. The filing of charges gives relatives a legal path, but it does not guarantee a fast resolution.
The state-line piece of the case may become less visible as proceedings continue in Wood County. Extradition was needed to bring Pierce back, but the charges themselves are based in West Virginia. The court will have to manage a case with evidence from multiple places and a timeline that stretches from December 2022 through the remains discovery in 2025 and the arrest in 2026. Witnesses may include North Carolina officers who handled the arrest, but most of the evidence is expected to center on Parkersburg, Wirt County and the investigation led by local police.
The public record still leaves important questions open. Investigators have not said why Pierce was in North Carolina when he was arrested. They have not said whether he had been living there, visiting or passing through. They have not said whether any evidence was recovered from him or from a North Carolina location after the arrest. They have not announced whether more charges could be filed. For now, Pierce is the only person publicly accused in Fleming’s death.
The case stands in Wood County Circuit Court after Pierce’s extradition and not-guilty plea. The next milestones are court scheduling, discovery and pretrial hearings that may reveal more about the state’s evidence in the killing of Gretchen Fleming.
Author note: Last updated July 8, 2026.