WAYNE COUNTY– Judge Michael Molt has denied motions from a 28-year-old former Fairfield man for an evidentiary hearing and to reconsider his 50-year sentence for the murder of 15-year-old Megan Nichols nearly 10 years ago.

A Wayne County jury found Brodey Murbarger responsible for strangling or smothering Nichols to death in 2014.

Megan was last seen alive on July 3, 2014, at her Fairfield home. She was considered a missing person until December 2018, when a farmer found her remains in a Boyleston farm field.

Murbarger was arrested two years later and charged in connection with Megan’s death.

She was 15 years old at the time of her disappearance and Murbarger was 18.

Prior to the jury trial, prosecutors opted to not pursue the concealment of a homicide and to try the home invasion charges separately.
Judge Molt had denied Murbarger’s request for a new trial before sentencing him to 50 years in prison.

Then on Friday he also denied a motion requesting an evidentiary hearing in the case as well as a motion to reconsider the 50-year sentence.

He did, however, grant a motion requesting the appointment of an appellate defender to assist Murbarger as he appeals his conviction.