Missouri man gets life sentence after a women’s body was found in southern Illinois
ILLINOIS(KBSI) – It’s been nearly four years since officers with the Pulaski County Sherriff’s Department responded to a call they say they will never forget.
On March 26, 2020 the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department received a call of a suspicious suitcase located at the Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge.
When officers arrived and investigated, inside the suitcase they found the body of a women.
The women had been put into the suitcase and then dumped at the Wildlife Refuge.
Officers would soon find out it was the body of 18-year-old Haley Decker.
Decker was reported missing to the Normal Police Department in Illinois on March 4 , 2020.
Jayson Fitzgerald is a Seargent with the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office. He was the officer who responded to the call that led to finding Deckers remains. He says his first thoughts when finding the remains was to do as well as he could to preserve evidence so they could find the person who did this.
“My first thoughts were just do everything we can to help find justice for the young lady” says Fitzgerald.
The Pulaski County sheriff’s office handed the investigation over to the Illinois State Police. Their investigation led them to James A. Merritt of Morehouse Mo. The Missouri State Highway Patrol and FBI then assisted in the investigation they say through their teamwork led to the arrest of Merritt on April 20, 2020.
Once Decker was identified, agents connected her through digital evidence to Merritt’s residence in Morehouse, MO. On April 16, 2020, ISP, Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control, and the FBI executed a search warrant at Merritt’s residence. The search warrant led to evidence that proved Decker had once lived with Merritt. Other evidence obtained during the search warrant revealed enough information to charge Merritt with Trafficking for the Purpose of Sexual Exploitation and he was taken into custody. As the investigation progressed, it was determined that Merritt was responsible for the death of Decker.
Randy Kern is the Sheriff of Pulaski County, and he says his department has never seen a case like this one.
“This is sensitive. This is the first time we’ve had anything like this and I hope it’s the last.”
On March 13th of 2024, James A Merritt was sentenced on a second-degree murder conviction, the judge giving him a life sentence plus more time tacked on for other charges, including armed criminal action, tampering with evidence, and trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, for those charges he received an additional 29 years.
“Noone deserves to be treated that way or dumped that way. I don’t care who they are and plus her family having to deal with that too and I can’t imagine what this lady went through before she got there.” Says Kern.
