Marvin Lee Irvin (born May 4, 1949) is an American

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

and former

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

who murdered two women in

St. Joseph, Missouri St. Joseph is a city in and the county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri. Small parts of St. Joseph extend into Andrew County. Located on the Missouri River, it is the principal city of the St. Joseph Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includ ...

in September and October 1990, and after his arrest confessed to an additional 1979 murder, which up to that point he had been the

prime suspect ''Prime Suspect'' is a British police procedural television drama series devised by Lynda La Plante. It stars Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service, who ...

in for years. For all three crimes, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

without parole.

Early life

Marvin Lee Irvin was born on May 4, 1949, in St. Joseph. His family rented a three-story home, and they were friendly to neighbors, who recalled Irvin as a quiet but polite boy. Irvin graduated from Highland High School, and in 1970 joined the St. Joseph Police Department as an officer, but it was not long before he

resigned Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...

. In April 1974 Irvin was accused of raping a 15-year-old girl in

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, whom he had allegedly abducted outside a drug store in St. Joseph. He was arrested, but the charge was dropped after the girl refused to testify. Irvin met up with another young girl named Ruth West in 1974, and the two sparked a relationship, and at age 15, West delivered Irvin's baby. West would later describe their relationship as abusive, claiming Irvin was emotionally manipulative.

Crimes

Disappearance of Micki Jo West

In 1979, Ruth, her brother Calvin West, and Calvin's wife 19-year-old Micki Jo West left for

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, with Irvin following not far behind. In March, Ruth and Irvin officially married in Ventura, but by the time they returned to Missouri, their relationship had downgraded, with Ruth claiming Irvin beat her. In August, she and her 4-year-old son fled and took refuge in a motel in

Elwood, Kansas Elwood is a city in Doniphan County, Kansas, United States, located west across the Missouri River from Saint Joseph, Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,125. History A trading post was established at Elwood in ...

, only sharing this information with her mother, her sister, the couple who helped her relocate, and Micki Jo West. On September 11, Micki Jo West was scheduled to show up to her job at a hospital, but she never arrived. Later that same day, Irvin and two friends broke into Ruth's motel room, dragged her and their son into a car, and drove them back to St. Joseph. When Micki was reported missing, Irvin became a suspect, and he was required to take multiple

polygraph A polygraph, often incorrectly referred to as a lie detector test, is a device or procedure that measures and records several physiological indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while a person is asked an ...

tests, but the tests were inconclusive. Ruth West filed for divorce from Irvin in October after another domestic dispute, which resulted in Irvin chasing West barefoot across St. Joseph. On September 11, 1986, exactly seven years since Micki's disappearance, an anonymous letter was found inside a Kansas City shopping mall. The letter, which was addressed to the St. Joseph police, contained details about the writer being with Marvin Irvin at the time of Micki's disappearance, claiming he killed her. However, the writer left no details about who he/she was, and police were not able to follow up on an exact lead. In 1988, a television reporter named Therman Mitchell received a letter addressed to him. The letter contained details about where Micki's body was, and the writer inviting Mitchell to show him where Micki's body was. Instead of meeting up with the anonymous sender, Mitchell aired a news story on the letter, pleading for the sender to come forward. That same year, Irvin and another woman moved to

Ames, Iowa Ames () is a city in Story County, Iowa, United States, located approximately north of Des Moines in central Iowa. It is best known as the home of Iowa State University (ISU), with leading agriculture, design, engineering, and veterinary medici ...

, where Irvin got a job working at railroad tracks. There, on March 30, Janet Huegerich filed a police report because Irvin had shot over her head multiple times. The resulting police confrontation ended with a police chase across multiple counties, with over 20 police officers in pursuit. After his eventual arrest, Irvin pleaded guilty to avoiding arrest and two weapons charges and was sentenced to five years probation.

Disappearances of Patricia Rose and Crystal Simmons

Irvin returned to St. Joseph not long after. There, on September 17, 1990, meat cutter 31-year-old Patricia Diane Rose visited a local bar named Brew's Blue Town to take a break from work and was due to return, but she never did and was reported missing. A month later, on October 29, 33-year-old Crystal Lynn Simmons also disappeared, last seen at downtown bar. During the investigation, investigators received a tip, saying that Simmons was last seen with a man named Marvin Lee Irvin, and to inspect his truck as evidence. They followed up on it and received a warrant to search his vehicle. They temporarily removed the seats and discovered a partially wet towel soaked in blood. Further tests on the blood proved it belonged to Simmons, and Irvin was arrested. In November, skeletal remains of two women were found in a cornfield in Kansas, both were later positively identified as belonging to both women. An

autopsy An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any di ...

on both declared their cause of death as multiple blows to the head.

Confessions

While in jail awaiting charges, Irvin denied killing anybody. His brother openly believed this, accusing officials of setting-up Marvin, saying, "They want a guy for a lot of cases, I feel like the whole thing is kind of a set up." Detectives learned that Irvin was a suspect in the disappearance of Micki Jo West, and they used that to build up their case further. Over time, Irvin changed his mind and pleaded guilty to all three murders, offering details to where he buried West's body. During his sentencing, he said that in 1979, he took West to a cornfield in Kansas, where he proceeded to kill her and bury her body. In October 1991, Irvin pleaded guilty to two counts of

first-degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

and one count of second-degree murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole. Irvin led investigators to a farm in Kansas where he said he disposed of West. Authorities prepared search dogs and a bulldozer to scour the area, but due to heavy rainfall, the search was delayed. Another search attempt was made on October 11, but the search team was unable to find her body. As of 2022, West's body has yet to be found.

Media

Before Irvin's arrest, the case surrounding his first victim Micki Jo West was featured on season 1 episode 13 of the documentary television show ''

Unsolved Mysteries ''Unsolved Mysteries'' is an American mystery documentary television show, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, it began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Karl ...

''. An updated episode after Irvin's arrest and conviction was featured in Season 4 episode 21.

External links

Missouri Department of Corrections Information

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irvin, Marvin 1949 births 1979 murders in the United States 1990 murders in the United States 20th-century African-American people 20th-century American criminals African-American people American male criminals American people convicted of murder American police officers American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment American serial killers Crime in Missouri Living people Male serial killers People convicted of murder by Missouri People from St. Joseph, Missouri Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Missouri Serial killers who worked in law enforcement Violence against women in the United States