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Wesley Scott Cale Sr. sat quietly Thursday during a preliminary hearing in Tucker County Magistrate Court. The 42-year-old Parsons resident is being charged with concealment of a deceased body that police believe may be that of his former wife, Bonnie Cale, who has been missing for more than seven years.

Testimony from West Virginia State Police Sgt. R.L. Stump and West Virginia Medical Examiner Dr. John M. Carson showed Magistrate Carol Irons there was sufficient evidence to bind the case to circuit court. Stump testified that he was looking over a previous interview with one of the Cale children when something stuck out.

At one point during that interview Aaron Cale, son of the defendant and his first wife, Chelsea, said he saw his half brother Wesley Scott Cale Jr. "digging a hole." Stump said he asked Aaron Cale, Wednesday to point out the building in a photograph in which he saw Wesley Cale Jr. digging. Aaron Cale marked the building in the picture where the remains were found. This, according to Stump's testimony, was done before the son was informed of where the remains were actually located.

The sergeant also told the court there were approximately seven paper or cardboard hearts attached to a "header" in the building where the remains were buried. Stump said the hearts looked old, but he did not get a closer look at them before the crime scene investigators removed them.

Tucker County Prosecuting Attorney Mont Miller asked Stump if any evidence conclusive with criminal activity was found on the skeletal remains. According to Stump, Dr. Douglas Owsley, a forensic anthropologist with the Smithsonian Institute, said the person was "severely beaten" and there were "skull fractures, broken ribs and a broken collar bone." Stump also said Owsley reported "an instrument or tool" was used on the remains.

There has not been confirmation from either Owsley or Carson as to the remain's identity.

The defendant's attorney, Daniel James of Keyser, asked Stump multiple questions regarding the remains found on his client's property including when the fractures and brakes occurred. Stump said he did not know, pending a report from Owsley. James also questioned Stump on the report filed with the state police regarding the defendant's missing wife.

James asked Stump multiple times when Bonnie Cale was last seen. Stump testified that Bonnie Cale was reported being seen leaving the home of Wesley Scott Cale Sr. on Licking Creek Road in Tucker County on March 24, 2002. Stump said Wesley Scott Cale Sr., along with an attorney, reported his then-wife missing claiming that he and others saw her leaving that day. However according to the sergeant's testimony, none of those people did see her leave. Stump testified that the last time she was seen by someone other than the defendant was the day before when they had dinner at a friend's home.

During Stump's testimony, he said there was a strong smell of gasoline on the pieces of clothing found with the remains. James questioned whether the smell was consistent with the presumed purpose of the building in which the remains were located. He also asked that if it appeared the shed was used to repair vehicles or farm equipment whether the smells of gas and oil were out of place. Stump replied, "No."

"The prosecution has a problem," James said during his final statement.

The charge, concealing a human body, was not a viable charge in 2002, when the prosecution claims the body was buried. West Virginia State Code 61-2-5A was not entered into State Code until 2006. James claimed that because the prosecution believes the remains were buried in 2002, after Bonnie Cale went missing, when concealment of a deceased human body was not illegal within the state, they could not charge his client with that crime.

"Concealment is a definite, temporal ... event," James told the court. "It's not a continuing act."

Miller disagreed saying that when Wesley Scott Cale Sr. was arrested on the charge, the law was in place. Concealment was occurring when state police searched the property on Nov. 11.

"Was she concealed?" Miller asked. "Yes."