The state called ten witnesses on the first day of the murder trial for Marcy L. Oglesby.
One of them was Oglesby’s 79-year-old godmother, Karen J. Doubet, who was also charged with murder in the death of Richard R. Young — but has taken a plea deal in exchange for testifying against Oglesby.
Oglesby, 53, is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a toxic substance, and concealment of a homicide in the death of Young, whose decomposing remains were discovered in a Maquon storage unit on Oct. 7, 2022, following reports of a foul odor.
Doubet testified Monday that she’s known Oglesby since she was born and basically raised her. She said the three of them lived in a home she owns that is across the street from the storage unit, with Oglesby and Young in a longtime “boyfriend/girlfriend” relationship.
“I tolerated him,” Doubet said of Young, noting that she didn’t want him dead. “We spoke to each other but there was no great friendship there.”
Doubet testified that in the summer of 2021, Oglesby asked her to buy eye drops for Oglesby’s allergies. And Doubet obliged, going to Dollar Generals in Knoxville and Elmwood to make the purchases.
She said in July of that year, she came out of the bathroom in the home and saw Oglesby putting eye drops in Young's coffee. She said she continued to buy eye drops for Oglesby after that "because she asked me to.” Under oath, Doubet, who walks with a cane, was asked if she never put eye drops or pills in Young’s food or drink.
“I did not,” she said.
Doubet was also charged with murder, aggravated battery by administering a toxic substance, and concealment of a homicide. In exchange for her testimony, all charges but the concealment will be dropped – and she’ll get time served and conditional discharge for the concealment.
Doubet testified that Young left the home for several months in late 2020 to live with his son in Kentucky. She said when he returned, he and Oglesby were more friends than in a romantic relationship.
She said Ogelsby had been in an online relationship with a man from Nigeria she called “Sunny," and that was her motive for poisoning Young, who was the former chief of police in Maquon, a village of around 220 people.
“She wanted to be with Sunny,” Doubet said.
According to Doubet’s testimony, Oglesby began poisoning Young in the summer of 2021. She said he began to experience falls and be unsteady on his feet.
“The day that he passed away, he fell in the bathroom,” Doubet said.
That was in late October 2021. Doubet said she saw Oglesby drag Young’s body from the bathroom to a chair in the living room, and he was no longer breathing. Oglesby then dragged him into the bedroom, where Ogelsby said Young “didn’t make it.”
Doubet said Oglesby got a large box and began to put Young’s body in it. Doubet said she put on a pair of gloves to assist Oglesby. Asked why she put on gloves, she said: “I didn’t really want to get messed up in that ordeal.”
Doubet said Oglesby then taped the box shut and tried to put it in Young’s RV, but it didn’t fit, so she took it to the storage unit across the street.
Young’s remains were discovered in one cardboard box that was inside another and taped shut. Part of his body was wrapped in plastic, and his body was decomposed to the point that parts of it were liquefied.
On cross examination, Oglesby’s public defender Chris Kanthak questioned how Doubet’s story changed over the course of three interrogations. Doubet admitted she initially lied to investigators.
Eventually Doubet gathered evidence from the home, including empty eye drops and pill bottles and receipts, and put them in a trash can outside the home, according to testimony. She also told authorities where to find that evidence.
Prior to Doubet’s testimony, Sgt. Jeremy Moore of the Knox County Sheriff’s Office took the stand. He, too, said Oglesby was having an online relationship with a man in Nigeria.
While on the stand, he cut open several sealed, clear evidence bags in gloved hands with a pair of scissors.
That was as Knox County State’s Attorney Ashley Worby asked Moore to identify and count what was in the bags.
Moore testified that one of those clear bags contained 19 empty boxes of eye drops and six empty bottles.
Another had almost as many empty boxes and bottles of over-the-counter migraine medicine.
Others had Dollar General receipts for eye drops and packaging from a Walgreens pill crusher.
Other witnesses testifying Monday included a state police crime investigator, the Maquon Village Board President, Young’s ex-wife, the manager of the storage unit, the former Knox County coroner, and other law enforcement officers.
Toxicology experts are expected to testify Tuesday. Young's toxicology reports showed high levels of tetrahydrozoline, which is found in over-the-counter eye drops.
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