Homicide

SPRINGFIELD -- Springfield Police is now calling the investigation of a man's death a homicide.   Fifty-seven-year-old, Gary Lee Russell's body was found by a relative on Saturday evening. Russell's body was found inside his home on the 1700 block of East Florida. At first, SPD was calling his death suspicious. Stay tuned to KY3 for the latest on this investigation.

Carthage, MO - Juan Mendoza,   45, Carthage was arrested at 6:12   PM on 05-04-12 on charges of First Degree Murder. The arrest was made after nine days of investigation following the April 25 discovery of 43-year old Mario Gonzalez' body in Spring River at the north city limits of Carthage. Mendoza was arrested at the Carthage Police Department and is being held there pending the filing of formal charges.   The Tri-State Major Case Squad was activated for this investigation and 50 officers from numerous jurisdictions assisted in the investigation.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo -- Springfield Police say a man wanted in connection to a December 7 homicide in the city has turned himself into authorities. The Greene County Prosecutor filed first degree murder charges against against Marlo B. Hodges earlier this month.  He is accused of shooting and killing 34 year old James Davis.  Hodges is also accused of stabbing a woman at a home on East Brower near Chestnut and Fremont. Police say Davis and the woman went into the house.  Davis was shot and killed inside the home.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Springfield police have asked anyone with knowledge of a Saturday morning homicide to come forward with information, as the investigation into the incident continues. Officers responded to 1230 E. McDaniel St. in Springfield for an assault call Saturday morning. When officers arrived, they found 24-year-old Marcus Wells with multiple gunshot wounds. Wells later died at the hospital. Police have since learned 20 to 30 people were at the party where the incident happened, and officers say most fled the scene before they arrived.

LOS ANGELES, Cal. -- The man suspected of killing a person from Springfield in May is behind bars. Court records show Joshua Kirkland Brown is in jail in Los Angeles, California.  The report says the 21-year-old was arrested in L.A. on Tuesday and is being held without bail. Brown is accused of shooting a man at a home in the 1100 block of Maryland Street nearly two months ago. Javon Carter was shot in the face and arm and later died from his injuries. Investigators believe the suspect and victim knew each other.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- City police are investigating a shooting death on Wednesday evening near some businesses and Bradford Park Apartments on the east side of National Avenue near Walnut Lawn Street.  A 23-year-old man, whose identity wasn't released as of midday Thursday, was fatally shot and found on the ground between the Bradford Park Apartments and near The Vision Clinic. "There were some employees here inside The Vision Clinic, as well as some people in the Bradford Park Apartments, that had heard some shots and saw some vehicles leaving, but what actually happened, we haven't talked to any witnesses that actually saw what happened," said Springfield Police Lt. Scott Umbarger.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A pickup belonging to a man found shot to death in a home in Rogersville was found Tuesday morning in Springfield.  A police officer on patrol found the truck in the 1900 block of North Rock Island Avenue, near Kansas Expressway at Division Street. Police say no arrests have been made in the death of Russell Lawson.  The 24-year-old man's body was found by his mother at his home on Mill Street across from Logan-Rogersville Upper Elementary School Monday morning.

Osage Beach police are investigating the death of a 21-year-old woman. They're calling it a homicide. Adrianna Hyten was found lying on the floor of an apartment in the 1100 block of Mace Road Sunday. Police aren't saying how she died.  A 23-year-old man who knew the victim is being questioned.   

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Springfield police were in a standoff all Friday evening that they may be connected to a murder and stabbing on Friday afternoon.  Police surrounded a house in west Springfield right behind the new Walmart Neighborhood Market near South Suburban Avenue at West Watkins Street.  They were at that home from before 6 p.m. until well into the night. The homicide occurred a few blocks southwest of Evangel University on Friday afternoon.  Police say a man was shot to death and a woman was hospitalized with a stab wound.

CROCKER, Mo. -- City police are investigating a possible homicide, despite no signs of foul play.  Jaython Skaggs, 37, was found dead in a home early Thursday.  Officers say they are interviewing several people while waiting on autopsy results.

WILLOW SPRINGS, Mo. -- Authorities are investigating the deaths of two people in a rural home near the small community of Tyrone in southern Texas county. A neighbor was the one to call 911 just after 9:00 Wednesday night, reporting a fire.  The home is in a secluded area, on Curran Road near the intersection of Highways Y and 137. The house was engulfed in flames when crews arrived and is a total loss.  The Texas County Sheriff's Department says fire crews called deputies to the scene, because something seemed suspicious.  In the early morning hours, investigators discovered the bodies of two adults among the ashes, but they could not comment on exactly where the bodies were found.  Their names have not yet been released.  Investigators say two men lived in the home.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- According to the Springfield Police Department's annual report, 2012 can be characterized by two words: challenges and change.   The biggest challenge was crime.  The numbers were up across the board. "You just have to look at it, drill down into them, try to figure out what the cause is, and try to attack that cause," said Springfield Police Department Capt. David Millsap. Taking a look at Violent Crimes in Springfield: In 2010, there were 1,328 crimes.   In 2011, that number remained fairly steady at 1,306.  In 2012, violent crimes jumped to 1,596.  It was an increase of more than 20 percent.  The largest portion of those crimes: aggravated assault.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The man who Greene County sheriff's deputies say led them on a chase through Springfield on Thursday now faces new charges.  The sheriff's department says Michael Riemer, 25, was charged on Friday with two counts of resisting a lawful stop, two counts of possession of methamphetamine, and one count of receiving stolen property. The department says one charge of resisting a stop and one charge of meth possession stem from a pursuit by deputies in January 2012; the other meth charge is for a violation in March 2012 that stems from a Springfield Police Department investigation; and the other charge of resisting a stop and receiving stolen property stem from the chase on Thursday afternoon.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A chase that snaked across Springfield on Thursday afternoon ended when law enforcement officers arrested the driver at a hotel.  The sheriff says the chase reached speeds as high as 70mph. Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott says the chase began when his deputies tried to serve a felony arrest warrant in the 2500 block of North Ramsey Avenue.  Michael Riemer, 25, took off after the attempted traffic stop and led deputies throughout the city.  Arnott said Riemer is also wanted for questioning about a homicide in Greene County, which he wouldn't identify.

BRANSON, Mo. -- Police detectives say a woman's death on Sunday in a hotel is a homicide.  A maid found the 63-year-old woman's body in her room.  Police say it appears the woman had been dead for more than two days. Investigators say her husband is a person of interest in her death.  Police did not release either name at a news conference on Monday morning, as they work to notify family.  An autopsy is being performed Monday, but police are not releasing the cause of death at this time, saying it's an important part of the investigation.

VERSAILLES, Mo. -- Autopsies will be done Tuesday on the couple found dead in their Morgan County home.  The victim's have been identified as Freddy Wilson, 66, and his wife, Carol, 53. The sheriff says one of the victim's called 911 saying they had been shot yesterday morning.  When authorities arrived at the house, a van driver tried to hit a deputy's car.  The driver eventually ran the van into a ditch where two men and a woman were arrested. ...

VERSAILLES, Mo. -- The Morgan County Sheriff's Department is investigating a double homicide south of Versailles, just off Highway TT.   At 11:05 Monday morning, Morgan County 911 received a phone call from a female stating that she had been shot.   A second call was taken shortly after that from the same home.  Deputies were dispatched along with a state trooper.  The first deputies arrived and found two people, a man and a woman who had...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo -- Springfield Police say a man wanted in connection to a December 7 homicide in the city has turned himself into authorities. The Greene County Prosecutor filed first degree murder charges against against Marlo B. Hodges earlier this month.  He is accused of shooting and killing 34 year old James Davis.  Hodges is also accused of stabbing a woman at a home on East Brower near Chestnut and Fremont. Police say Davis and the woman went into the house.  Davis was shot and killed inside the home.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- City police are investigating a shooting death on Wednesday evening near some businesses and Bradford Park Apartments on the east side of National Avenue near Walnut Lawn Street.  A 23-year-old man, whose identity wasn't released as of midday Thursday, was fatally shot and found on the ground between the Bradford Park Apartments and near The Vision Clinic. "There were some employees here inside The Vision Clinic, as well as some people in the Bradford Park Apartments, that had heard some shots and saw some vehicles leaving, but what actually happened, we haven't talked to any witnesses that actually saw what happened," said Springfield Police Lt. Scott Umbarger.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Springfield police were in a standoff all Friday evening that they may be connected to a murder and stabbing on Friday afternoon.  Police surrounded a house in west Springfield right behind the new Walmart Neighborhood Market near South Suburban Avenue at West Watkins Street.  They were at that home from before 6 p.m. until well into the night. The homicide occurred a few blocks southwest of Evangel University on Friday afternoon.  Police say a man was shot to death and a woman was hospitalized with a stab wound.