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A jury convicted Colby Martin of first degree premeditated murder in the September 20, 2021, killing of Melody Rohrer in Van Buren County, Michigan, and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Rohrer, 64, lived in the Decatur area and regularly walked near her home. She was struck and killed by a pickup truck while walking near Oak Shores Campground. When she did not return home, her husband reported her missing to the Van Buren County Sheriff's Office. Her body was found September 21, 2021, on Purgatory Road near the Three Rivers State Game Area in St. Joseph County, after Martin led detectives to it.

Detectives used phone records to locate Martin at a Walmart on September 21, 2021. His black 2013 Ford F-150 had severe front end damage, and officers recovered Rohrer's cellphone from him. Detective Lieutenant David Walker testified that he sat alone with Martin in an unmarked Michigan State Police car and told him they were looking for a missing woman. Martin then told detectives where she was.

During an interview conducted the day after Rohrer went missing by Walker and Detective Sergeant Kyle Romeo, Martin admitted striking and killing Rohrer, moving her body in his truck and leaving it on Purgatory Road. He initially denied washing the vehicle but later withdrew that denial. Car wash surveillance showed him washing the truck bed, the tires and the ground around the truck. He denied removing Rohrer's clothing and denied any sexual contact with her body.

Detective Andrew Gayler testified that investigators recovered bloody paper towels, gloves, underwear, shorts and a used condom from a car wash trash can. DNA analysis linked Martin and Rohrer to the condom. A forensic scientist testified that DNA could transfer that way if a body were placed on the condom. Phone data showed Martin searched terms including necro, dead and kill at least 22 times on August 24, 2021, about a month before Rohrer's death. Tire track evidence showed the truck veered off the road and continued without braking until impact.

Martin was charged in September 2021 with manslaughter with a motor vehicle, failure to stop at the scene of an accident causing death, and concealing a death. The charge was upgraded to open murder in February 2022, and District Judge Michael McKay found probable cause to send it forward. Prosecutors argued that Martin deliberately struck Rohrer so he could perform sexual acts on her body. He was not charged with any sexual offense and denied the allegation throughout.

After about an hour and a half of deliberation on June 14, 2023, the jury convicted Martin on all three counts and found first degree premeditated murder on the open murder count. On July 31, 2023, Judge Kathleen Brinkley imposed the sentence Michigan law makes mandatory for first degree murder. Martin, of White Pigeon, Michigan, was 31 at sentencing. Rohrer's husband Richard and her daughters Brooke and Jill spoke at the hearing. No appellate decision in the case has been publicly reported.

The video is a police interview-room recording that runs about 109 minutes. It presents the interview itself, without narration or a presenter.

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Part 2 of 2 of the recording described above.