Prosecutors: Trudy Appleby killed in Colona over drug debt

CAMBRIDGE, Illinois (KWQC) - Witnesses are expected to testify that the man accused in the slaying of Trudy Appleby abducted her and killed her near the train bridge close to Kershaw mobile home park in Colona, according to new court documents.

According to an online records search, Fisher lived at an address that was in the park in August 1996.

According to the documents filed by prosecutors Thursday, Jamison Fisher abducted Appleby because of a drug debt owed by her father, Dennis Appleby.

A witness will testify that he personally saw Dennis Appleby buy methamphetamine from Fisher before Trudy’s disappearance, prosecutors told the judge.

This marks the first time officials have revealed a motive and what they believe led to Trudy’s death in August 1996.

Dennis Appleby was looking for a large quantity of methamphetamine two to three weeks before Trudy’s disappearance, a witness told prosecutors. The witness introduced Dennis Appleby to Fisher.

According to prosecutors, witnesses will testify that Fisher owned a silver Chevy Cavalier, matching a witness’s description of the car Trudy was last seen in.

A separate witness said Fisher told him at the time that he was “in a fix, because I’ve just kidnapped a girl for a drug debt.”

Another witness will testify that she saw Fisher carry a lifeless little girl off a boat about a half mile from the trailer park where prosecutors say she was killed. The witness didn’t tell police until 2016, according to the documents, because she feared Fisher would harm her.

Another witness said Fisher once told her, “No one would ever find Trudy’s body.”

Appleby was strangled, one witness told prosecutors. He told prosecutors that Fisher confessed to moving the body “a couple of times.”

A different witness said Fisher bragged about killing Trudy in 2017, saying he’d choked her to death and concealed her body.

Trudy’s remains have never been recovered.

None of the witnesses, the prosecutors told the judge, are receiving deals in exchange for their testimony.

Fisher pleaded not guilty to murder charges earlier this month.

Police and prosecutors announced he was indicted on the charges on in August.

It came just days after he reached a plea deal with prosecutors in a Scott County drug case that will send him to prison for 25 years – meaning that even if Fisher is acquitted in Trudy’s death, he’ll still serve prison time in Iowa.

In Trudy’s case, Fisher is being represented by a public defender.

Fisher will appear in court next for a pretrial hearing on Dec. 19.