Some of the documents in the court proceedings involving the Oil City man accused of murdering Suzette Nellis along the bike trail in the West End of Oil City almost one year ago have been sealed by order of Venango County President Judge Matthew Kirtland.
David Bosley, 60, is facing an upcoming trial for killing Nellis, 76, of Oil City, in late March 2023.
Sources have told the newspaper Bosley’s trial will likely be held in May.
Kirtland later rescinded the Feb. 12 order, instead stating that only certain filings associated with the hearing will remain sealed and the “remainder of the record at this criminal docket shall be unsealed.”
“The court has not yet entered a decision on whether the evidence is admissible and may be presented at trial and this admissibility issue weighs heavily against public inspection,” the order notes.
The sealed evidence presented “does not serve to promote fairness from the outset of the criminal proceedings, and does not relate to the performance of the police or prosecutors in filing the charges,” according to the order.
The order says the county’s district attorney and public defender offices made a joint request for those particular filings to be sealed.
Nellis was reported missing the evening of March 26, 2023, after she failed to return home from her afternoon walk on the Samuel Justus bike trail near her home on Oil City’s West End.
Her body was found the next morning near the trail.
Bosley was arrested 10 days later at his home in the 1600 block of West First Street following an around-the-clock investigation.
Bosley is facing a number of charges that include first-degree murder, second-degree murder, rape, kidnapping and abuse of a corpse. The murder charges replaced a previous charge of criminal homicide.
At the end of November, a motion filed by the public defender’s office to bring in jurors from another county for Bosley’s trial was denied.
