Marion County State’s Attorney Tim Hudspeth says interviews with new witnesses that had not been found previously provided enough evidence for him to proceed with charges in a 2015 murder case.
Hudspeth, in an interview with WJBD-WSIQ News on Wednesday afternoon, also indicated there may have been another person involved in the 2015 murder of then 24-year-old Dustin Rhynes. Hudspeth reports even with the 1st degree murder charge being filed against 31-year-old Ricky Norwood of Howard Street in Centralia the investigation being led by the State Police Department of Criminal Investigation is continuing.
Rhynes was found dead in an alley on Centralia’s northeast side where he had apparently died a few hours earlier as a result of a gunshot wound. Hudspeth says the investigation has put together a timeline of events of what led up to Rhynes death, but he declined to make that information public at the present time.
Hudspeth says while the case is seven years old, State Police continued to work on it that led to the new developments.
The charge against Norwood says he or a person for whose conduct he is legally accountable and without legal justification shot Rhynes in the body with a firearm knowing such acts created a strong probably of death or bodily harm.
During his first appearance in Marion County Court, Judge Michael McHaney kept Norwood’s bond at the $1-million amount earlier set on the warrant. A public defender was appointed to represent him. Norwood is scheduled to make his first appearance with an attorney next Wednesday, April 13th, at one pm.
Norwood was returned from a federal prison in New Jersey this week on the outstanding warrant. He was serving 151 months in prison after being convicted on a federal drug offense stemming from a drug raid on a home on Randolph Street in Centralia in 2019.
