A Quiet Wedding for Darren Wilson

FERGUSON, Mo. — Darren Wilson, the officer who fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown in August, has been out of public sight ever since. Yet last month, he stepped into a St. Louis County office building, gave his name and applied for a marriage license.

Several days later, Officer Wilson married Barbara Spradling, a fellow officer in the Ferguson Police Department, public records show.

The couple obtained their marriage license in Clayton, Mo., outside St. Louis, in the recorder of deeds office on the fourth floor of the Lawrence K. Roos administrative building, steps away from the courthouse where the grand jury has been meeting.

While security guards question people going in and out of the building, the deeds office itself is a blandly bureaucratic place where clerks sit in open cubicles. A clerk at the marriage license desk said on Monday that she was surprised that Officer Wilson went there, as opposed to another county or state — possibly Las Vegas, she said — where he could have filled out paperwork with a greater guarantee of privacy.

Records show that Officer Wilson, 28, and Officer Spradling, 37, were married on Oct. 24. One of the two witnesses at the ceremony was Greg Kloeppel, one of Officer Wilson’s lawyers. Christopher B. Graville, a municipal judge in Oakland, Mo., performed the ceremony.

Officer Wilson has been on paid administrative leave from the police department since August, when he fatally shot Mr. Brown on a Ferguson street, setting off months of angry demonstrations. A grand jury is currently meeting to determine whether there is probable cause that Officer Wilson committed a crime when he killed Mr. Brown. A decision from the grand jury is expected any day.

Both Officer Wilson and Officer Spradling were previously married, public records indicate. His divorce was finalized on Nov. 10, 2013.

Officer Wilson and Officer Spradling own a home together on Manda Lane in Crestwood, Mo., a St. Louis suburb about a half-hour drive from Ferguson.

They have scarcely been seen there since Mr. Brown was killed on Aug. 9. Neighbors said that within a few days of the shooting, Officer Wilson and Officer Spradling abruptly left their home.

Officer Spradling received a medal of valor award in 2012 for her work as a police officer. Officer Wilson received a commendation earlier this year for his arrest of a suspect in a drug case.