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Man charged with mother’s murder nearly a year after her death

Posted at 6:51 PM, Apr 13, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-13 18:51:37-04

KALAMAZOO, Mich– A 48-year-old man has been charged with Open Murder in connection to his mother’s death.

Investigators say Barbara Bodine, 84, was found unresponsive with a head injury at her home in Cooper Township on April 24, 2016. She later died from her injuries at the hospital on June 12.

Officials say Bodine’s death was the result of a domestic assault and arrested her son, Wesley Bodine on Wednesday. Investigators have not released details or a motive surrounding the assault.

Barbara Bodine

“We’re all happy in that way that he’s going to have to pay for what he did because we kept thinking he’s going to get off, you know, for killing her,” said Baraba’s close friend Patricia Geisenheimer. “It’s a bittersweet thing because I never expected him to do that and I hate to think it was her son that did this, but he has to pay for this.”

Geisenheimer had been friends with Barbara Bodine for 34 years and says she was like a grandmother to her two kids.

“She was always included in everything,” said Geisenheimer. “She came to birthday parties, she came to get-togethers at the house.”

Wesley Bodine is being held in the Kalamazoo County Jail on $100,000 bond.