Featured MO News Stories:
Couple accused of videotaped sex killing charged with another murder
Associated press
04 Oct 2006 9:33 am
A couple already facing charges in a gruesome videotaped sex killing of a woman and the sexual assault of a 5-year-old girl were indicted Tuesday in the death of another woman. Prosecutors said they will pursue the death penalty.
A grand jury issued first-degree murder charges against Richard D. Davis, 41, and Dena D. Riley, 39, in the strangling and suffocation death of Michelle Ricci.
Davis and Riley are already charged with murder, kidnapping, sodomy, rape and assault in the death of Marsha Spicer, which happened several weeks after Ricci's death.
Authorities said Davis and Riley raped and tortured Ricci for several days before killing her, afraid they she knew where they lived and would go to police.
In June, investigators searching the couple's apartment found videotapes of Spicer in violent sex scenes, including a two-hour tape showing Spicer being beaten, raped and strangled during sex with the couple.
Slain woman's kids were in washer, dryer
JIM SUHR
24 Sep 2006 7:40 am
Authorities on Sunday were trying to pinpoint the cause of death for three children an investigator says were found decomposing inside the washer and dryer of their apartment, hours after a woman was accused of killing their pregnant mother and her fetus.
Illinois State Police Capt. Craig Koehler declined to say late Saturday whether [she] was suspected in the children's deaths. The cause of their deaths had not been determined, he said.
"Any time you have three deceased children, it's a very emotional time," Koehler said, fighting back tears. " All these investigators have worked tirelessly with one outcome in mind — to find these children alive."
An autopsy showed that Jimella Tunstall, 23, whose body was found Thursday, bled to death after sustaining an abdominal wound caused by a sharp object, believed to be scissors, Hart has said. Authorities believe her womb was cut open after she was knocked unconscious.
Charges filed in Mo. baby's kidnapping
CHRISTOPHER LEONARD
20 Sep 2006 6:35 pm
A woman who authorities say slit the throat of a young mother and stole her baby was charged Wednesday with kidnapping and assault as authorities cast doubt on her claims that she had recently lost her own baby.
The baby was found in good condition late Tuesday — four days after being abducted — and the woman accused of the crime, Shannon Torrez, was arrested.
In court papers, authorities said Torrez, 36, learned about the week-old baby through a "welcome home" yard sign for the new mother, Stephenie Ochsenbine.
Sheriff Gary Toelke said Torrez told investigators she was nine months pregnant but lost the baby on Friday, the same day little Abigale Lynn Woods was kidnapped. But Toelke said investigators are trying to determine whether Torrez had been pregnant.
Investigators questioned how Torrez could have delivered her own baby and recovered enough physically to attack Ochsenbine on the same day.
On Wednesday, Ochsenbine cradled her daughter and said the experience had been exhausting.
"But I can handle anything now," she said on NBC's "Today" show, her neck still bandaged. On MSNBC, the baby's father, James Woods said: "I just wanted to hug her."
Mother of abducted baby out of hospital
JEFF DOUGLAS
17 Sep 2006 7:43 pm
A mother whose throat was slashed and newborn baby kidnapped was released from the hospital Sunday as authorities said they found a knife on property near her home.
A woman came to 21-year-old Stephanie Ochsenbine's home in the town of Lonedell on Friday, attacked her with a knife and left with her week-old infant, Abigale Lynn Woods, officials said.
Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke said authorities found a knife and other evidence near Ochsenbine's home, but would not give more details.
Heavy rain Sunday forced postponement of a search for more evidence.
Ochsenbine is not a suspect, Toelke said. The attacker was described as a white woman with black hair, 5-feet-8 and 200 pounds. She was believed to be armed.
Ochsenbine helped police artists with a composite drawing of the kidnapper after leaving the hospital. The picture could be released Sunday, Toelke said.
Fliers showing the baby, called "Abby" by her family, were posted in gas stations and restaurants in neighboring Union. The 6-pound girl, born Sept. 8, has dark brown hair, dark eyes and a strawberry birthmark on her forehead.
From 1983 to 2002, there were 217 reported cases of non-family infant abductions, and all but a few babies were recovered safely within 25 miles of where they had been taken, according to a 2003 study by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. About three-quarters of the kidnapped infants were recovered in fewer than five days.
"We're hopeful that's the case," Toelke said.
DNA evidence leads to charges in 2001 rape
KYLE MORRISON
07 Sep 2006 12:00 am
Investigators have solved a 5-year-old rape case with the help of DNA evidence.
Ontario R. Reed, 23, formerly of the Malden, Mo., area, was charged with felony forcible rape and forcible sodomy in the Aug. 6, 2001 rape in Cape Girardeau.
Currently incarcerated in the Missouri Department of Corrections on an unrelated case, Reed was linked to the rape through routine DNA testing conducted in the prison system, a release from the Cape Girardeau prosecuting attorney's office.
Missouri Corrections Secures $1.4 Million in Grants
05 Sep 2006 12:00 am
The department secured a $900,000 Prisoner Reentry Initiative grant that will provide pre-release reentry services for at least 400 offenders during the next two years. It will fund four reentry specialists and four substance abuse specialists within the Missouri Prisoner Reentry (MPR) Initiative Project. The specialists will work with offenders in several transitional housing units across the state. The grant funding will also provide stipends to Connections to Success in Kansas City and the St. Patrick Center in St. Louis for travel expenses for mentors traveling to designated transitional housing units.
The department also received a $568,538 Protecting Inmates and Safeguarding Communities grant that will enable them to purchase updated camera and recording equipment to assist in alleged incident investigations. The grant is affiliated with the Prison Rape Elimination Act, which was signed by President George W. Bush in 2003. As a result of that legislation, the Bureau of Justice Assistance created the Protecting Inmates and Safeguarding Communities Program.
"These grants complement the Governor's efforts to increase public safety by improving the Missouri Prisoner Reentry Process," said Department of Corrections Director Larry Crawford.
Man confesses to killing 7 in Missouri
HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH
20 Aug 2006 7:45 pm
A man who police say confessed to killing seven people in rural Missouri was charged Sunday with one count of murder. Michael Lee Shaver Jr., 33, was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action related to a killing in fall 2001.
Investigators found the remains of two people on the plot of land northeast of Drexel in western Missouri, and were scouring the property for additional victims.
Police say Shaver told investigators he has killed seven people on the property, all of whom he met through narcotics transactions. Authorities aren't ruling out the possibility that he is exaggerating about the killings.
"He can say that he killed 50, but we have to prove that he actually did."
Four rapes in one week in Kirksville
Associated Press
11 Aug 2006 12:00 am
A registered sex offender previously convicted of statutory rape was arrested Friday morning on charges of raping a juvenile, the fourth sexual assault in Kirksville this week.
It's unusual to have four sexual assault cases in one week in the small town, Kirksville Police Chief Jim Hughes acknowledged. But Hughes doesn't believe the cases are a harbinger of a sexual assault trend, saying the circumstances in each case vary greatly and residents shouldn't be worried for their safety.
"The community should rest assured that these are separate, unrelated events, and that the criminal investigations have identified those most likely involved," Hughes said in a news release.
Mo. Landlord, 85, Accused of Harassment
SAM HANANEL
08 Aug 2006 12:00 am
The Justice Department on Tuesday sued a northwest Missouri landlord Tuesday alleging he sexually harassed female tenants and threatened them with eviction if they refused his advances.
"Housing is a fundamental need and no woman should be victimized while trying to obtain shelter for herself and her family," said Wan J. Kim, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's civil rights division.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, alleges Calvert violated the federal Fair Housing Act, which prohibits sexual discrimination in housing. Some of Calvert's tenants receive Section 8 federal rental assistance from the Richmond Housing Authority.
The government is seeking damages to compensate the victims, plus civil penalties and a court order barring further discrimination.
Teacher accused of arriving at school drunk
Associated Press
24 May 2006 3:46 am
After arriving at school Monday morning, police said Sterling Johnson asked a student to retrieve a bag containing a bottle of cognac from his car. Police then said Johnson rubbed the buttocks and thigh of a 13-year-old girl and directed a sexual remark at another 13-year-old girl.
The principal ordered the teacher, who has been teaching for 22 years, to leave after becoming aware of his behavior, police said. Johnson complied but returned a short time later and was arrested. A hidden bottle of liquor was found in Johnson's classroom.
Johnson was charged with misdemeanor assault and a misdemeanor count of disturbing the peace.
Joplin resident sentenced, ordered held for deportation
A Joplin resident who pleaded guilty to two counts of sodomy with a child less than 12 years of age was granted suspended sentences.
Former cop pleads guilty to child sex charges
A former police sergeant pleaded guilty to luring a minor for sex - one of the crimes he was assigned to investigate as an officer.
Lawyer pleads no contest in sex sting
Kevin T. Coan, a former official of the St. Louis Election Board, acknowledged in court Monday that he had solicited what he thought was a 14-year-old girl for sex over the Internet in 2001.
