Alabama man used dead man’s phone to cover up murder for weeks; a jury convicted him of the killing
Published 6:00 pm Thursday, October 21, 2021
A jury convicted a man Thursday in the gunshot killing of a friend whose 2018 slaying was covered up for weeks before relatives and authorities realized he was dead.
Andrew Jacob Maresh, 23, was convicted of murder in the death of Daniel Ray Osborn II of Hartselle, news outlets reported. A prosecutor said he would seek the maximum sentence of life imprisonment, and two other people await trial.
Authorities said Maresh was with Osborn, friend Tyler Hudson and Maresh’s grandmother Susan Smith at her home in the Fairview community when Osborn was killed with a gunshot to the head nearly four years ago.
Maresh, Hudson and Smith buried the body on the property and then used Osborn’s cellphone to mislead his relatives, friends and police into believing the victim was still alive, prosecutors alleged. Investigators got a tip seven weeks later that led to the discovery of the body and the arrest of all three.
Hudson and Smith await trial, and Cullman County District Attorney Wilson Blaylock said in a statement his office would continue to work for the victim’s family.
“We are grateful that the jury was able to see through the many lies of Maresh in returning their verdict of guilty for intentional murder,” he said.
It wasn’t clear what prompted the killing.