A man who police say confessed to strangling a woman to death with his belt has been ordered held in lieu of a $1 million bond.
James Clyde Martin, 36, on Tuesday made a video appearance in Pulaski County District Court on charges including first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse in the killing of Robbin Gore.
A preliminary innocent plea was also entered during the brief hearing before Judge Wayne Gruber. A public defender representing Martin didn't contest prosecutors' motion for the high bail, noting Martin wouldn't be able to make even a substantially smaller one and that he expected to remain in jail for a "little while."
Martin, a Wrightsville resident who was identified as a suspect after authorities released information about the crime and received two tips, confessed to striking Gore and then using a belt to strangle her "until she was dead," according to a Pulaski County sheriff's office report.
Investigators say Martin also admitted dumping the body in woods across from Dixon Manor Mobile Home Park, where a fisherman found the body Friday.
No information on the motive has been released.
