John Michael Gomez, a 30-year-old White / Caucasian male originally from Middleport, Ohio, had only recently moved into the Mason County, West Virginia area when his life ended violently on March 8, 2022. His body was discovered along Carson Road near Mason, in a quiet stretch of the county where the sudden appearance of a dead man in a ditch immediately drew the attention of West Virginia State Police. A UPS driver found him near the 600 block of Carson Road, and what first began as a death investigation quickly became a homicide case.
Investigators later learned that Gomez had been picked up that day by Bobby Lee Wolford of Cleveland, Ohio, and Rikki Parsons-Wise of Racine, Ohio, in a Jeep Cherokee connected to Parsons-Wise’s family. According to court records and testimony, Gomez had been communicating with Parsons-Wise about a marijuana transaction. Prosecutors later described the meeting not as a simple drug buy gone wrong, but as part of a planned robbery.
Parsons-Wise would later testify that Wolford wanted to “hit a lick,” meaning he wanted to rob someone for quick money, and that she identified Gomez as the target.
The evidence showed that Gomez entered the Jeep and, during the encounter, was struck and shot. An autopsy determined that he died from a non-contact gunshot wound, and reports also noted abrasions to his face. Prosecutors said Wolford shot Gomez during the attempted robbery, then removed his body from the vehicle and left him in a ditch along Carson Road. Parsons-Wise testified that Wolford went through Gomez’s belongings afterward and took cash and marijuana. Forensic evidence also connected Gomez to the vehicle, with his blood found inside the Jeep.
After Gomez’s body was found, investigators followed the trail from West Virginia into Ohio. They spoke with Gomez’s roommate, who said Gomez had left with Wolford and Parsons-Wise in the Jeep. Police later located the vehicle in Cleveland, where officers reportedly saw a large amount of blood in the backseat during a traffic stop. Wolford was taken into custody there. Parsons-Wise was also arrested and later extradited back to West Virginia. Early statements from the suspects included claims that Gomez had tried to rob Wolford or that the shooting had happened in self-defense, but Parsons-Wise later admitted at trial that the self-defense version was false.
In January 2023, a Mason County grand jury indicted Bobby L. Wolford and Rikki L. Parsons-Wise in connection with Gomez’s death. Wolford was indicted on felony murder, first-degree robbery, conspiracy, and concealment of a deceased human body. Parsons-Wise was indicted on felony murder, second-degree robbery, conspiracy, and concealment of a deceased human body. Before Wolford’s trial, Parsons-Wise entered a plea agreement, pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and concealment of a deceased human body, and agreed to testify against him.
Wolford stood trial in Mason County and was found guilty in August 2023 of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and concealment of a deceased human body. He maintained that the shooting happened during a struggle after Gomez allegedly put a gun to his head, but the jury rejected that account. Later that month, Wolford was sentenced to life in prison without mercy for first-degree murder, with additional consecutive sentences of one to five years for concealment of a deceased human body and one to five years for conspiracy.
The case continued through the appeals process, but Wolford’s convictions were upheld. The court found that the evidence presented at trial supported the prosecution’s theory that Gomez was lured into the Jeep as part of a robbery plan and killed during that crime. What began with a body found beside Carson Road became a case that exposed a calculated setup, a fatal shooting, and an attempt to abandon the evidence across state lines.
