Suspect in 1979 murder arrives at Cape Girardeau County Jail

A former Sikeston, Mo., man was transported to Cape Girardeau County Jail on Wednesday to stand trial in the murder of Deborah Martin, a 24-year-old business owner killed nearly 30 years ago in Cape Girardeau.

Max Allen Ellison Jr., 61, was charged last week with first-degree murder and robbery in connection with Martin's death.

Ellison, a former Stoddard County sheriff's deputy, was arrested in Nixa, Mo., where he had been living after being paroled after serving about half of a 65-year federal sentence for kidnapping, and brought to Cape Girardeau County on a $10 million cash-only bond.

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said he's not releasing much information about the evidence against Ellison because he expects the case to go to trial.

Martin's body was found Sept. 16, 1979, by an employee at her plant and antique shop. She had been beaten and pushed off the balcony of the second floor of the building where she lived, about a 14-foot fall.

Conflicting stories from witnesses that dispute Ellison's alibi and a confession he allegedly made to the former Stoddard County sheriff are among the evidence cited in a probable-cause statement by detective Jim Smith of the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

Ellison had always been a person of interest to investigators in connection with Martin's death, Cape Girardeau police chief Carl Kinnison said last week.

Elizabeth Martin, sister of Deborah Martin, said she had known Ellison, though not well, because they attended high school together in Sikeston.

"I can see their faces when we were all kids, and that's bothersome," Martin said.

Deborah Martin had been the youngest in a family of four girls, daughters of a Sikeston doctor.

Elizabeth Martin said she and her younger sister were close, and Deborah visited her in Idaho a few weeks before her death.

"She and I were best friends," Elizabeth Martin said.

Deborah Martin had always been creative and good at expressing herself, her sister said.

Her love was botany, Elizabeth Martin said, and she left Southeast Missouri State University to pursue her dream of owning a plant store, Mother Earth, at 605 Broadway.

Elizabeth Martin said learning of Ellison's arrest was a "mixed bag of feelings."

The more time that went by, the more she began to lose hope that her sister's murder would ever be solved, she said.

"A day hasn't gone by in 30 years that I don't think about Debby," she said.

While she feels as though a huge weight has been lifted off her after Ellison's arrest, having the case brought to the public eye again has also "reopened a lot of old feelings that you manage to put away," she said.

She praised the work of Swingle and Smith in not only securing an arrest in the case but in keeping her informed.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

388-3635

Pertinent addresses:

Nixa, Mo

605 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO

216 N. Missouri St., Jackson, MO

100 Court St., Jackson, MO

40 S. Sprigg St., Cape Girardeau, MO