Not-Guilty Plea and Changed Story in Detroit Death

A 19-year-old man pleaded not guilty to murder Tuesday in the death of a woman who police said jumped off a bridge to escape an attack, and investigators backed off their original story that onlookers cheered the assault.

Deletha Word, 33, apparently was not pushed but leaped off the Belle Isle bridge on her own, and some witnesses even said her attacker told her not to jump, police Cmdr. Gerald Stewart said.

There is no evidence to support initial police reports that a crowd cheered as Word was attacked early Saturday, Stewart said.

Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Richard Padzieski also said the early reports were wrong.

Stewart said the story may have stemmed from people honking their horns at the backed-up traffic, or yelling in horror when they saw the woman jump. “When you know what really happened,” he said, “it’s bad, but not like it’s been portrayed.”

“Everybody’s sugarcoating this, and I see no reason for it,” Dortha Word said of her daughter’s death. Other family members said they doubt Word jumped because she could not swim.

And in court, Magistrate Kerry Leon Jackson read from a report that quoted a witness as saying the suspect held Word and said, “I should throw [her] over the bridge.”

Bail for Martell Welch was set at $250,000 for a charge of second-degree murder, punishable by up to life in prison. Jackson set a preliminary hearing for Sept. 1.

Two other men who had been held for questioning were released late Tuesday.