A man who slashed his own mother’s throat nearly two years ago has been charged with the murder of Barry Cole, whose body was found in his small residence at the edge of downtown Feb. 6.
The alleged killer, Wesley Lex Leverett, 25, was booked into Warren County Jail on the charge of homicide just before midnight Friday. He remains held on $1 million bond and will face arraignment Tuesday morning.
His arrest comes less than two weeks after the body of the 55-year-old former Marine was found inside the small outbuilding he called home on Lind Street. The residence faces Morford Street across from Super Rama.
The grisly discovery of Cole’s remains was made inside the residence which was adorned by a Confederate flag that hung over its doorway. Lawmen have not revealed how long the victim had been dead when his body was found. However, they had put out a call for information from the public and set the timeline from sometime during the weekend leading up the discovery of his body that Monday afternoon.
In its press release distributed Saturday, the TBI avoided providing any information about the circumstances of the murder or how they were able to peg Leverett, a former honor roll student, as the killer.
“During the course of the investigation, information was obtained that led law enforcement officers to Leverett, an acquaintance of Cole’s, as the individual responsible for the homicide,” the short TBI press release reads.
Shortly after Leverett’s arrest late Friday night, reports were received that police were searching a wooded area just outside the city limits, their search suspected to be part of the investigation into the Cole murder. Police would neither confirm nor deny the search was connected to the homicide.
Leverett’s arrest comes less than two years after he was charged with slashing his mother’s throat and then cutting his own arm to make it look like he had been defending himself. Officers said they noted a cut on the throat of Leverett’s mother when they arrived at the domestic situation and found Leverett bleeding profusely from a wound to his arm. It was determined he had cut himself in an attempt to say his mother attacked him first.
Leverett was allowed to plea to the charge of domestic assault and was sentenced to 30 days in jail and placed on probation for one year. He failed to complete his probation as he was violated and sent back to serve the remainder of his time last March.
In addition to his jail time and probation, Leverett was ordered, as part of his plea agreement in the case of the assault on his mother, to undergo a mental evaluation and alcohol and drug assessment.
Prior to his domestic assault case, Leverett had been convicted for simple possession of drugs. He also violated his probation in that case in 2014 and was ordered to serve the entire year.