Since Sept. 17, Valerie Marish anguished over her missing son, Jesse, fearing the worst. On Thursday those fears became reality. Washington Township police told Marish they believe the human remains found in a drainage ditch behind a house on Perry Street are those of her son. Marish, surrounded by family and friends, was distraught yesterday as investigators collected evidence from where the body was found about 100 feet away. “It’s him,” she said, weeping. Asked how she knew, she replied, “The color of the clothing.” Elsie Dvorchak, deputy Fayette County coroner, said the remains were skeletal, but the person was wearing a light blue sweatsuit. “It’s not a big person, it’s probably a young male from what clothing (the person) was wearing,” she said. She said officials hoped to make a positive identification after an autopsy to be conducted today. Township Detective Tom O’Barto said black Nike high-top tennis shoes and a Nike wristband were found on the body. That matches what Marish was wearing when he was last seen, O’Barto said. The size of the body and the blondish-brown hair color were similar to that of Jesse Marish, who was about 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighed 130 to 135 pounds. O’Barto said a license plate from a car owned by a relative of Marish was found on the body. He said the plate was from a car, which Marish was driving, involved in an accident in front of 309 Perry St. The rear yard of that residence is where the body was found at about 1:35 p.m. “I do know there was an accident; I do know he ran from the accident,” O’Barto said. He said Marish’s car hit a utility pole and then a tree. “The accident information that we had said that he had talked to a neighbor and indicated to her that he was all right and began throwing debris from the accident, parts of the car, into the car,” he said. O’Barto said Marish removed the license plate from the car, apparently cutting his hand in the process. “The officer at the scene said that he fled from the accident scene in a westerly direction,” O’Barto said. He said Marish ran in the direction of the house where he lived with his father at 928 Louise Ave., about a mile away. Family members said Jesse reportedly called a friend from his father’s house around 4:45 a.m. O’Barto said police have not been able to confirm that the call took place. If the body is indeed that of Jesse Marish, the mystery is how it ended up in the drainage ditch in the opposite direction from where police saw him flee. “The first thing I need to determine is what caused his death, and the next thing is how he got to where he was found,” O’Barto said. “We’re going to treat this as a suspicious death right now until I’m satisfied that it is an accident or something other.” Dvorchak said a man working in the yard bagging leaves discovered the body, something that searches by family, friends and police failed to do. O’Barto said the body was found in an area of thick vegetation. “The body had leaves and brush covering it. “He would not have been visible from any roadways. You would practically have to step on him to see him, and that’s almost what happened.” Valerie Marish and her family said they were not happy with how police handled Jesse’s disappearance from the time his mother reported it on Sept. 20. They said the police treated it lightly, left it up to family members to search and did not keep the family informed about the progress of the investigation. “They didn’t tell me anything; they didn’t show me anything,” Valerie Marish said. O’Barto disagreed. He said police conducted three searches of the area, starting with a walk-through of the neighborhood by an officer the day after the accident; a search by police and firefighters on Sept. 28 at the request of Valerie Marish; and another search of the area a few days later by police. He said any information the family gave to police was acted upon. “We actually executed a search of a residence, that I will not identify at this time, to see if we could find an individual who might have information on his whereabouts,” O’Barto said. “At this point, she (Valerie Marish) has been kept up to speed as to what’s been going on.” He said Jesse was known to police as a heroin user and had several outstanding warrants issued for his arrest on charges that included burglary and possession of drug paraphernalia. O’Barto said Jesse had been released from the Westmoreland County Prison a day or two before the accident. O’Barto said that when police first searched the area, they found a bottle marked “poison” or “poisonous” that contained what they believed to be methadone, a synthetic narcotic drug used in drug treatment programs. He said police did not have the substance tested because they had no reason to until now.

---

Copyright ©2026— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)

---