For ten minutes and fifty-nine seconds, Richard DeGenova drove Matthew Marshall, the man accused of savagely killing and dismembering his own father. The trip was was the night after his father, Rick Marshall, was reported missing.
"I picked him up the night of the event," DeGenova said. "The night he supposedly chopped up his father."
Detectives found parts of Rick's body tightly packed in a suitcase floating down a canal near his condo. Meanwhile, Rick's torso was found underneath a pile of palm fronds wrapped in a sheet in a wooded area nearby.
"It gave me the willies to think that he was in my car," DeGenova said. "You just don't know who you're picking up."
Matthew used Uber often, receipts revealing the last time he requested an Uber was on February 17th, 2016, the day before Rick Marshall was reported missing.
Uber receipts obtained by Four In Your Corner show the first ride was nearly 5 miles. DeGenova drove Matthew from a Walmart in Cape Coral to Back Streets Sports Bar.
"He didn't seem nervous or scared. He had absolutely nothing, no bag, nothing," he said.
Uber receipts also show Matthew requested an Uber from the bar at 11:30 pm but canceled the ride. There were additional requests that night. The next request for a ride came in at 11:57 pm from the same location, with the final request at 12:12 am. All requests were canceled.
A week later, DeGenova got a call from Cape Coral Major Crimes Unit asking him questions to help with the case.
"They asked me if he was he bloody when he got in the car? Did he have any plastic bags with him? Did we stop off at any dumpsters on the way to where I took him to Backstreets? I told him no."
Now Matthew is standing solo in court. After the judge has advised him multiple times to work with a public defender, Matthew has chosen to represent himself.
DeGenova says Matthew has that right until proven guilty.
"Who knows, did he actually do it? We won't know 'til this all comes out."
