Someone beat Melissa White to death in her yard in October 2011, but her estranged husband continues to insist he is not to blame.
"I didn't kill my wife," William 'Pete' White said, after a court appearance in Aledo on an unrelated felony case Tuesday afternoon, February 4, 2014.
Judge Tom Berglund ruled there was enough evidence to pursue charges against White for driving a lawn mower on a revoked license in August of 2011.
White has been convicted of driving while revoked 13 times. He was set to be released from prison January 19, 2014, when authorities promptly filed the most recent charge, keeping him in custody and off the streets for now.
"We've had several people concerned that he may be released and for the public safety. It's a lot of why this is going down the way it is," said Viola Police Chief Tom Mulder.
Melissa White had filed for an order of protection against her estranged husband shortly before she was found brutally beaten, with multiple skull fractures, by one of her young children.
White has been called a "person of interest" in the case but no charges have ever been filed in connection with Melissa White's death.
"It's still an ongoing investigation. We've got items being processed, we've got interviews still being done and it continues to be a very active investigation," Chief Mulder said.
White has also been charged with threatening a public official, accused of telling prison officials and relatives he was going to harm Mercer County public defender Dan Dalton.
A preliminary hearing on that charge was set for February 11.