Son’s arrest records reveal gruesome details in father’s killing

FORT MYERS, Fla.- A suitcase was found floating in a canal carrying “body extremities” including an arm, thighs and legs found “packed in dirt,” according to an arrest report released Wednesday.

The body parts were later identified as James Richard Marshall, 58, of Cape Coral.

His son, Matthew Marshall, 33, is now facing second degree murder charges for killing his father and will be held in jail on no bond, a judge ruled Wednesday.

In court, state prosecutors said Matthew Marshall is a danger to the community.

Matthew Marshall was originally arrested for fraud in February after police say he used his father’s credit card at a Cape Coral bar a day after James Richard Marshall was last seen.

In Matthew Marshall’s arrest report, police stated “his voice was shaky, he was trembling, and he appeared very nervous,” when police arrived to speak with him on Feb. 19 at the Island Cove Condos where he lived with his father.

“Matthew stated that he was unaware of his father’s whereabouts,” according to the arrest report.

As the investigation continued, the arrest report states multiple friends and family members worried about James Marshall’s disappearance told police Matthew Marshall had previously threatened to kill his father.

The suitcase was found March 15. That was nearly a month after a K-9 search and rescue team searched the wooded area behind the condo complex where they discovered a torso “wrapped in a bedsheet with distinct multi-color, box patterned design” on Feb. 22.

During an additional search of the condo, the arrest report says a fitted sheet in Matthew Marshall’s bedroom was an “exact match” to the sheet the torso was discovered in.

On the upper left shoulder of the torso was a distinct tattoo which police say James Marshall’s other son and close friend both used to identify the body.

Inside the condo, a blood detection solution found a “large presumptive presence of blood,” in the master shower. There were also two nearly empty bottles of bleach found in the laundry room, the report said.

Forensics detectives were also able to recover Matthew Marshall’s fingerprints from the master bathroom and shower, the report detailed.

A substantial amount of forensic evidence is still undergoing analysis, the report said.

Marshall’s next court date is on May 31.