The preliminary hearing dates are set for the Tamaqua man and his girlfriend who are charged in the killing of a man in Missouri.

Court documents show Josue Martinez, 20, and his girlfriend Kimberly D. Riston, 29, Banning, California, have hearings set for 9 a.m. May 11 in front of Judge Kenneth Gordon Clayton at the Phelps County Courthouse. Each are represented by a public defender. They remain in Phelps County Jail without bond.

Martinez and Riston are each charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action, robbery and tampering with a motor vehicle.

A probable cause statement filed by a detective with the Phelps County Sheriff’s Department details what police say took place April 21 when Martinez stabbed Donald Wethy, 36, of St. James Missouri and left his body in the parking lot if the Economy Inn, 102 N. Outer Road, St. James.

Surveillance footage from the Inn shows the incident, police said. In it, Martinez approaches Wethy, who is standing near his friend’s passenger side vehicle door. Banning leaves the hotel room with items and her dog. She approaches them and Martinez stabs Wethy unprovoked, police said.

Wethy runs away but he trips over the dog and falls.

Martinez stabs Wethy 12 times while he is on the ground until he ceased moving, police said. He then searches his pockets and takes something from them.

Meanwhile, Riston puts the dog in the rear of Wethy’s girlfriend’s vehicle. She gets in the passenger side while Martinez is in the front. They look for something in the vehicle and later leave. Police say the keys were found in the back seat.

Police recovered a “bloody pocket knife” from the front driver’s seat believed to be the murder weapon.

The suspects were caught after information was provided to law enforcement and sent out to the Everbridge notification system. An off-duty Phelps County corrections officer and her husband, a police officer, received the alert. They saw the two walking by the highway in another county and contacted authorities, who took Martinez and Riston into custody without incident.

Numerous public safety agencies and the public aided in the search for the suspects.