Missing AL man found stuffed in barrel; murder suspect arrested

VALLEY HEAD, AL (WAFF) - A man from the United Kingdom is charged with the murder of a DeKalb County man who has been missing for six weeks.

The DeKalb County Sheriff's Office states they received a tip about a possible murder that happened two months ago. The victim was identified as William Scott Goldin.

Family members believe Goldin was stabbed to death in his bedroom before being stuffed in a barrel just behind the home on County Road 9059 in Valley Head.

Deputies arrived at the residence and talked to the suspect, 22-year-old Marcus Gordon Ricketts. Investigators say Ricketts confessed to the murder and then led officers to the body, which was buried in the woods behind his home.

Goldin had been missing since May. A missing person report had been filed.

DeKalb County Sheriff Jimmy Harris said they had also received information that the body had been possibly stabbed or struck with a blunt object, stuffed in a 55-gallon drum that was sealed on both ends, and poured over with concrete. He said it took them a short amount of time to locate that barrel.

Ricketts is Goldin's daughter's boyfriend. Family members say he met her on the internet through XBox Live.

Ricketts was arrested and charged with murder. He has been ordered to give up his passport and is being held on a $1 million cash bond

Valerie Burt, whose son revealed Ricketts' confession, told WAFF 48 News that she and her son were shopping together on Saturday when her son told her that Ricketts confessed to him about killing Goldin two months ago.

"I didn't know what to think. We were thinking please God, don't let it be true," said Burt."Said that he had stabbed him and let him lay in the bedroom for a little while and then put him in this barrel and even asked him to help him move it."

Goldin's neice, Ashley Cooper, said she's angry with Ricketts. Cooper said Goldin was last seen in early May but Ricketts told her Goldin had left for a few weeks to clear his head later in May.

Cooper said she complained of the smell at her uncle's home and Ricketts told her it was from dogs killing chickens in the area. But it was Ricketts' recent revelation to Burt's son that prompted her and her son to go to Cooper and to sheriff's investigators.

"Ended up with concrete in it and rolled down the hill into the woods and said that he had dug a grave and buried him," she said.

Burt said she ultimately went with investigators to the home as they handcuffed Ricketts and that's when she learned the nightmare was true.

"Apparently, he showed them where the grave site was and the shovel. He held the shovel at one point," she said.

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