Richard Terrel offered to take police investigating the disappearance of William York Sr. of Tipp City to his body in exchange for release and immunity from prosecution, an investigator testified during a Jan. 29 hearing on Terrel’s attempt to exclude from evidence statements made last June.

Prosecutors rejected the request, but Terrel later in the day helped police locate the body. The autopsy said William York Sr., 88, died of blunt force trauma to the head.

Terrel, 36, of Troy, faces charges of murder, felonious assault, kidnapping, receiving stolen property and tampering with evidence in the death of York Sr. whose body was located June 3, 2015, in a Kentucky creek. York’s granddaughter, Hope Earnshaw-York, 24, of Tipp City faces charges of gross abuse of a corpse, receiving stolen property and tampering with evidence in the death.

Judge Christopher Gee heard testimony Jan. 29 on a motion to suppress filed by Terrel’s lawyer, Jay Adams of Xenia, in Miami County Common Pleas Court.

Testifying were Maj. Steve Lord of the Miami County Sheriff’s Department and Detective Sgt. Chris Graham of the Tipp City Police Department.

Adams and county Prosecutor Tony Kendell will file written legal arguments and responses over the next six weeks before Gee files a written decision.

Both Lord and Graham questioned Terrel following his arrest, along with Hope-Earnshaw-York, in the early hours of June 3 in William York Sr.’s missing truck in Butler Twp., Montgomery County.

Graham was with officers who stopped the pair.

The motion to suppress asks the judge to throw out statements Terrel made to investigators. The lawyers agreed to stipulate to the contents of the recorded interviews conducted at the Tipp City Police Department and the sheriff’s office in Troy. The interviews were not played in court.

Terrel claims he was not properly given his Miranda rights and claims investigators continued to question him when he wanted a lawyer. Both investigators said Terrel did not ask for a lawyer. They also said they did not mislead him or offer him leniency, instead saying cooperating and giving investigators information possibly could be considered in his favor down the road in a case.

Lord said that although investigators at the time of the June 3 questioning did not know for certain William York Sr. was dead, there were indicators it was possible. Among those indicators was evidence found at his home after he disappeared in late May and a decomposition smell coming from his truck when it was stopped in Butler Twp.

“What I wanted from him was help so I know what his role was,” Lord said of his questions. “He said … ‘If I give the body, I don’t want to go to jail.”

Lord testified “interview techniques,” including becoming more assertive as questioning continued, were used in an attempt to get Terrel through the denial stage.

“My testimony is I feel … I didn’t promise him anything specific,” Lord said.

“My position is you did,” Adams answered.

Graham testified about the traffic stop involving the York vehicle, saying Terrel was a passenger and Earnshaw-York was driving.

Graham, who talked to Terrel first before Lord arrived, said the recording equipment was never turned off during questioning. Graham rode to Kentucky with Terrel, who provided directions to the body, questioning him along the way. The body was located in the Boone County, Kentuck, creek around the time of their arrival.

Graham said he knew Terrel wasn’t being truthful when he claimed he didn’t notice the odor of decomposition coming from the truck and because of information from the FBI on where the truck had been driven.

“I think he minimized his role in the actual homicide for sure,” Graham said of Terrel’s statements.