Law Enforcement Officers

WEST PLAINS, Mo. -- Sheriff Mike Shannon said a task force of law enforcement officers arrested Lloyd Miller of Alton on Friday in Springfield.  Miller is the inmate who escaped from the Howell County jail on Dec. 21. Miller was a trusty, an inmate with a few more privileges in exchange for doing chores because he earned jailers' trust.  Online court records show Miller has an extensive criminal background in Howell, Oregon and Shannon counties. ...

MARSHALL, Ark. -- A woman who lives near Harriet is in jail after being a raid on her property that found 41 gallons of moonshine.   Shortly before the raid, the Searcy County sheriff says, Edwina Pipkins sold two gallons of the homemade liquor to undercover officers for $60 per gallon. Searcy County is officially a dry county, meaning retail sales of liquor and beer is prohibited. Sheriff Kenney Cassell says his department received information on Monday that Pipkins had “numerous gallons of untaxed spirituous, vinous, or malt liquors” at her home on Arkansas 14 east of Harriet.  On Wednesday afternoon, undercover officers went to her home and bought moonshine, which was in a shop next to her home.  She sold it to the officers in one-gallon glass bottles, which she put in brown paper sacks.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The U.S. attorney's office on Monday charged two men with distributing large amounts of cocaine and crack cocaine in the Springfield area.  One witness quoted in a detective's affidavit described Carlous Horton and Christopher Holmes as operating the largest cocaine/crack cocaine operation in the area. Horton, 35, of Nixa, and Holmes, 25, of Springfield, were charged in separate criminal complaints in U.S. District Court.   Law officers arrested both of them on Monday morning after raids on expensive homes in Springfield and Nixa, and they made their first appearances in federal court on Monday afternoon.

GALENA, Mo. -- Law enforcement officers arrested a woman on Wednesday who investigators believe threatened to blow up the Stone County Courthouse last week.  Teresa Jane Pickering is charged with making a terrorist (or terroristic) threat.  Law enforcement officers arrested her in Iowa after a Stone County judge issued a warrant for her arrest on Tuesday. After the bomb threat was received, Stone County officials evacuated the courthouse and sent employees home for the rest of the day, canceling scheduled court hearings and other county business.  No bomb was found after an extensive search.

REEDS SPRING, Mo. -- A man from Reeds Spring is jailed after law enforcement officers say he tried to set his wife on fire.  They say Dwayne James, 41, was upset about his wife's drug use. The probable cause statement used as the basis of the charge says James sprayed his wife with WD-40 before pulling out a lighter. James is charged with domestic assault.  If convicted, he could face a 15-year prison sentence.

CABOOL, Mo. -- A woman was shot to death at a gas station here on Thursday night.  The Texas County Sheriff's Department says the shooting was about 8:30 p.m.  It hadn't released other details by late Thursday night but said the shooter was still on the loose. The Houston Herald reports law enforcement officers are looking for Daniel Chapman, 55, and that the victim was Chapman's wife.

Saint Charles County, MO (KSDK) - The search for suspected gunman Richard Heeter in St. Charles County has ended with authorities shooting and killing him, according to St. Charles County Sheriff Thomas Neer. The search for Heeter began after two county deputies were shot early Wednesday. Investigators say the wanted person was hiding and when law enforcement officers closed in, the suspect lunged at officers with a knife, stabbing aSt. LouisCounty officer in the shoulder. Other officers opened fire on the man and fatally shot Heeter, Sheriff Neer said.

CROCKER, Mo. -- A man from Crocker is charged with three counts of child molestation.  Law enforcement officers arrested Clinton Weyand, 63, and at his home on Tuesday night. The Pulaski County sheriff says detectives investigated a report of child abuse in July.  The evidence led them to Weyand, who is a registered sex offender.  He was in the Pulaski County jail on Wednesday in lieu of a $100,000 bond.

VIENNA, Mo. -- A man from Dixon was charged with trespassing, resisting arrest and assaulting law enforcement officers on Monday.  Maries County Sheriff Chris Heitman said deputies responded to a panic alarm in the prosecutor's office after William Ratliff was being disorderly.  Heitman said Ratliff assaulted him and Major David Hutchison.  Heitman said deputies used an electronic stun gun and pepper spray to subdue Ratliff.  Heitman said no one was hurt.  

SALEM, Mo. --  The Dent County sheriff says a man from Salem will be charged with murdering his sister and brother-in-law in their home northwest of Salem.  A friend found the bodies of Dennis and Mary Lewis on Tuesday evening about 5. Investigators say both were shot, execution style, in their heads.  Law enforcement officers identified Mary Lewis' brother, who was staying with the couple, as a person of interest on Wednesday.  Officers arrested him at a house in Holts Summit, north of Jefferson City on Friday.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Springfield, Mo., man and a Kirbyville, Mo., man were charged in federal court today for their roles in a conspiracy to distribute synthetic marijuana, commonly referred to as K2. KY3 News obtained exclusive video of the raid Thursday afternoon of The Man Cave on South Glenstone.  Watch for that video on KY3 News at Five and Six.  ...

GALENA, Mo. -- Law enforcement officers arrested a woman on Wednesday who investigators believe threatened to blow up the Stone County Courthouse last week.  Teresa Jane Pickering is charged with making a terrorist (or terroristic) threat.  Law enforcement officers arrested her in Iowa after a Stone County judge issued a warrant for her arrest on Tuesday. After the bomb threat was received, Stone County officials evacuated the courthouse and sent employees home for the rest of the day, canceling scheduled court hearings and other county business.  No bomb was found after an extensive search.

MANSFIELD, Mo. -- Law enforcement officers believe a murder suspect from Illinois stole a third vehicle in Springfield on Wednesday night.  Thomas O'Dell is accused of murdering a man in Illinois in mid-March. "We presumed he's armed and dangerous.  That's how we're approaching it. That's how we want public tot understand and view this subject," said Lt. Dan Bracker, a spokesman for the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Officers believe O'Dell, 41, first stole a car in Illinois.  He was spotted in Mansfield on Wednesday night.  They think O'Dell ditched that first stolen car and stole a red Chevy Cavalier in Mansfield about 6:45 p.m. That Cavalier was spotted at Springfield 11 Theaters near Battlefield Road at U.S. 65 between 7:30 and 9:30 Wednesday night.  That's where officers think O'Dell stole a white 2012 Ford F-250 supercab pickup.  The license plate of the stolen truck is 44B-0GY, but the plates may not be displayed on the vehicle.  Officers found the Cavalier.

MOUNT VERNON, Mo. -- Law enforcement officers arrested a man who was wanted for the murder of his father in Ohio last week.   Brandon Lawrence was sleeping at the Interstate 44 rest area near Mount Vernon when he was arrested about 7:30 a.m. Saturday by a Lawrence County sheriff's deputy and a state trooper. Lawrence, 29, is charged with murder and theft of a motor vehicle.  Detectives think he killed his father, Michael Lawrence, 48, at his father's home in Shiloh, Ohio.   Richland County (Ohio)

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. --  A single bag of feed can bag a lot of cattle.  Farmers are fighting back and law enforcement officers are trying to track down rustlers who bring bait. With the price of cattle feed, it would be nice of someone to drop some by at no charge, but Don LaRue, a farmer in western Greene County, believes it was no act of kindness.  "I got a call from one of the neighbors.  He came by and he asked me if I'd fed the cattle.  I said no, I hadn't fed them," said LaRue.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. --  A man from Carl Junction pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday for receiving child pornography over the Internet.  James Hagerman, 50, waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge David Rush to a federal information that charges him with two counts of receiving child pornography. An officer with the Southwest Missouri Cybercrimes Task Force was conducting an online investigation into the sharing of child pornography on April 24, 2012, when he identified Hagerman's computer as sharing more than 100 files of child pornography through a peer-to-peer file-sharing program.  The officer downloaded three of the files and determined they contained depictions of children as young as 2 to 4 years of age engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

VERSAILLES, Mo. -- Law enforcement officers have a suspect for the murders of an elderly couple on Monday night.  Ronald Blowers, 25, who lives in the Ivy Bend area, was not charged for the murders as of Thursday, but he is charged with resisting arrest and trying to harm officers.  A judge set his bond at $1 million, an unusually high amount for a resisting arrest charge.  Blowers was paroled from a state prison two weeks ago. The probable cause...

MARSHFIELD, Mo. -- Three people are in jail after leading law enforcement officers on a chase early Sunday morning.  The Highway Patrol says the chase started in Webster County and went through Christian County on Missouri 14 to U.S. 65. Officers laid a pair of spike strips across the road, which shredded the left rear tire of the fleeing vehicle as the driver was headed north.  The chase ended north of Evans Road when the car ran off the highway....

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. -- Law enforcement officers in Camden County served a search warrant that resulted in a large drug bust and the arrests of five people from Osage Beach.  The warrant was served Sunday, according to a news release from the Camden County Sheriff's Department on Tuesday morning. Authorities seized an estimated $100,000 worth of narcotics from a laboratory making synthetic cannabinoid, more commonly known as spice, as well as three firearms and $1,800 in cash from a home in the 6000 block of Shadow Circle.

BUFFALO, Mo. -- A suspect for the death of a teenager from rural Greene County was arrested on Monday night after fleeing from law enforcement officers.  Anthony Balbirnie, 47, could be charged for the murder of Khighla Parks, 15. On Monday evening, Khighla's grandparents, Bonnie and Mike Adams, heard the news. "It's a relief. We been waiting for this day and hoping it would come about," said Mike Adams. Balbirnie was arrested after a lengthy car chase that ended just outside Buffalo a few minutes before 6 p.m.  According to online public records, Balbirnie has a lengthy criminal history, including possession of drugs, assault, unlawful use of weapon, and resisting arrest.  Those documents indicate he was sentenced to jail or prison numerous times, including a 12-year sentence in 2010.  In September 2011, Balbirnie was the subject of a bulletin from Crime Stoppers of Greater Springfield because he failed to show up in court for scheduled hearings.   In his mug shot distributed a year ago, Balbirnie was not bald.