STURGEON BAY, WI (WTAQ) – A man accused of killing his wife in Sturgeon Bay back in 1975 was ordered to stand trial on Wednesday.
82-year-old Richard Pierce faces charges of first-degree murder and disinterment of the dead in relation to the disappearance of his wife, Carol Jean Pierce, whose body has never been found.
At Wednesday’s preliminary hearing several people testified and court records show that Pierce will enter a plea on March 25.
According to court records, a defense request to reduce the $500,000 cash bond was rejected.
In October, Pierce was arrested where he lived in Michigan and police have not said if they have found any remains after extensively searching the property.
According to investigators, around the time Carol Jean Pierce disappeared the couple was planning to move from Sturgeon Bay to Cheboygan, Michigan.
Prosecutors say that Pierce told different versions of the story to various people, despite his claim that his wife left him.
Richard Pierce benefited from Carol Jean Pierce’s death, according to prosecutors, with “a pension unencumbered by a wife; most of the important belongings of their marriage; land and a home in Michigan; a new girlfriend weeks after Carol Jean’s disappearance, as well as the benefit of Carol Jean’s silence.”
Current prosecutors decided to move forward with the charges even though police have said there has been no new evidence.
