Son charged with murdering 84-year-old mother

By Madison Bennett | MLive

KALAMAZOO, MI - The son of an 84-year-old woman who died nearly a year ago from a head injury has been charged with murdering her.

Wesley Bodine, 48, appeared Thursday, April 13 in Kalamazoo County District Court via video for arraignment on an open count of murder and a domestic violence charge.

The Kalamazoo County Prosecutor's Office authorized the murder warrant Wednesday for the death of Barbara Bodine.

The Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office said deputies found the elder Bodine unresponsive with a head injury after receiving a report of a domestic assault at a home on Wayne Avenue in Cooper Township on April 24, 2016. She died June 12 at Borgess Medical Center. 

Court documents indicate Wesley Bodine was previously charged with aggravated assault, a misdemeanor charge, in connection to that case.

The sheriff's office provided no details on why the murder charge was filed nearly a year after Barbara Bodine's death, but Undersheriff Pali Matyas said detectives sought the warrant after a recent appeals court ruling cleared the way.

Judge Christopher T. Haenicke set Wesley Bodine's bond at $100,000. A preliminary examination on evidence against him was scheduled for May 3.

This post originally appeared April 13, 2017 on MLive.com.