MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The suspect charged with first degree murder in the disappearance of Kimberly Osborne has waived his preliminary hearing.
Court documents said there was a text message exchange between Joseph Nevera, 51, of Morgantown, and Osborne on the day she went missing, May 12 that acknowledged she was in a relationship with another man. And one day prior, she showed an unidentified witness bruises on her body she said Nevera was responsible for the injury and that she planned to move out.
The documents said Osborne alerted several family members that if something happened to her Nevera was the likely culprit. The documents also said Nevera took Osborne to the site of a shallow grave at an unknown location and told her she would end up there if she didn’t change her behavior.
Another witness told police she heard an argument in which Nevera said he would kill Osborne by strangling her.
On the night Osborne vanished, Nevera told police he drove her truck to the cabin she was moving into while she stayed at his home. Surveillance video shows the truck driving toward the cabin then about 20 minutes later her truck is seen coming back up the road with a truck behind with no headlights.
The investigation took a turn seven months later when remains initially identified as Osborne were found a shallow grave off Little Indian Creek Road about 2.3 straight line miles from Nevera’s home November 16.