Man, woman from Norwood are charged for murder during robbery in Caulfield

Both accuse the other of stabbing Joy Dishneau while robbing her

January 10, 2012|by Linda Russell, KY3 News | lrussell@ky3.com

Dennis Woodward made his first appearance in court on a charge of murdering Joy Dishneau.

WEST PLAINS, Mo. -- Two people who were arrested on Monday after a murder investigation in Caulfield were charged on Tuesday. Elisabeth Gunter, 43, and Dennis Woodward, 46, both of Norwood, are charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action, first-degree robbgery, and tampering with a motor vehicle. A judge set bonds at $2.5 million.

Investigators believe Gunter and Woodward robbed and killed Joy Dishneau, 63, at Dishneau's home in Caulfield on Jan. 2. Dishneau ran a home-based business called Naturally Enchanted.

Woodward appeared in Howell County Court Tuesday afternoon. Gunter was arrested near Taylorville, Ill., by the Christian County (Ill.) Sheriff's Dept. She appeared in court there and waived her right to extradition proceedings, allowing law enforcement officers bring her back to West Plains. Her mug shot is from Illinois.

Probable cause statements used as the basis of the charges show Gunter and Woodward admitted to investigators that they went to Dishneau's home to rob her. They each accuse the other of killing Dishneau with a dagger. The probable cause statement says Gunter helped Dishneau run her store, which was once in West Plains. Howell County Sheriff Mike Shannon says Woodward is also one of Dishneau's former employees.

"It has definitely been a difficult one. As far as people, we've had several different people. It's not one of these cases where ok, these two people are the ones we're looking at," says Shannon.

The suspects took electronics, money, and police believe some of the herbal incense Dishneau sold from her business, Naturally Enchanted. Investigators believe the motive was robbery, but it's unclear if the the suspects went with the intent of stealing herbal incense, known to law enforcement as synthetic drugs. "There's a lot of youth that are taking this, and it concerns me wat it's going to do to them five years down the road," says Shannon.

Woodward and Gunter both told investigators that after they left Dishneau's house, they abandoned Dishneau's Jeep Liberty in Ozark County, transferred the stolen property to their own pickup and went back to their house in Norwood.

"An individual called, was concerned about her, couldn't raise here, knew she should be home," says Shannon. Investigators found Dishneau fatally stabbed in her home on January 2nd.

Now, as two of Dishneau's former employees sit in jail, flowers and notes of remembrance sit in the window of her former West Plains store.

Even though charges list Gunter as living in Norwood, Mo., she appears to have lived in Illinois in recent months. Gunter used to work for Dishneau when Naturally Enchanted was in West Plains.

Last September, Gunter went to court in Christian County, Ill., and requested an order of protection against Joyce Virgina Dishneau, whom Gunter accused of stalking her. The petition said Dishneau had taken over Gunter's business, "which is located in a store owned by son, Timothy West. She is disabled." A judge denied the peition but scheduled another hearing, which appears never to have happened.

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