HANNIBAL, Mo. — Hannibal police detectives testified Monday that both Nathan Stice and David Ater admitted to striking Rodney Wood in the early morning hours of Aug. 10.

Friends and family say Wood, 45, left a party that night and was returning home on his Moped. He later was found dead in the 2100 block of Broadway following an altercation with the two men. Stice, 21, and Ater, 22, were arrested later in the day and charged with second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and kidnapping.

Hannibal’s small associate circuit courtroom was packed with Wood’s family and friends as the two men, clad in orange jail jumpsuits and separated at a table by their two attorneys, listened to four witnesses during the 2-hour, 15-minute hearing. Judge John Jackson found probably cause for the case to proceed, and the two men will be arraigned Oct. 21.

Ater and Stice were kept apart except during the hearing, and 10 uniformed and armed officers were in the courtroom. Ater and Stice looked angry as they were escorted out of the back of the courthouse and back to the Marion County Jail.

While questioned by Marion County Prosecutor Tom Redington, Hannibal Det. Seth McBride said he interviewed Stice during the afternoon after Wood’s death, saying Stice admitted he and Ater both struck Wood.

McBride said neighbors heard “a lot of yelling and screaming.” Bits of motorcycle helmet and an eyeglass were collected from the scene for evidence.

Det. Jeff Kinder said he interviewed Ater but did not get a written statement, because Ater asked for an attorney. Kinder said Ater told him during an interview at the Hannibal Police Department after his arrest that he and Stice were smoking cigarettes outside a residence in the 2100 block of Broadway when Wood drove up in his Moped and nearly struck them.

Ater said Wood turned around and “came after” the two men again. Ater said a scuffle ensued and that he hit Wood over the head with the motorcycle helmet.

There were reports that Wood may have been trying to intervene in an altercation between two men and a woman. Police have declined to confirm that scenario, and no evidence about why Wood might have stopped was presented Monday.

Ater’s private attorney, Jennifer Richardson of Hannibal, and Stice’s court-appointed attorney, Lisa Morrow from Troy, spent much of the hearing asking the same questions and determining the officer’s backgrounds. At one point, Morrow said, “Let’s recap” after a lengthy questioning of Kinder, and Redington said, “Let’s not recap.” The judge agreed, and Morrow moved to the next question.

The kidnapping incident apparently took place after the encounter between Wood and the two men.

Regina Atkins of Hannibal testified she and several friends drove up to a house by the murder scene that night and saw police and emergency crews at the scene. They were standing on a porch near where Wood’s body was found when a male ordered them to “get the (bleep) inside,” Atkins said.

Atkins identified the two men as Ater and Stice, but she said it was dark in the house and she was unsure which man wouldn’t let her leave.

Atkins said one of the men — she was unsure who — said she’d be killed if she and her friends tried to leave.

“One guy said they had gotten into a real bad fight,” Atkins said. “I said, ‘That wasn’t a bad fight. There’s a dead body outside.’ ”

Atkins said she and her friends stayed inside the house with their cell phones off until about 4:30 a.m. She went to the Hannibal Police Department later that day and gave detectives a statement, she said.

Marion County Coroner Peggy Porter submitted a copy of a Columbia medical examiner’s autopsy report. Little testimony was offered about how Wood died or the extent of his injuries. Porter did say Wood had a swollen right eye, scratches and bleeding when she examined the body at the scene.

Ater and Stice are being held in the Marion County Jail on $500,000 cash-only bond.

— rhart@whig.com/221-3370