Taney County

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A man from Protem pleaded guilty in federal court on Wednesday for robbing First Home Savings Bank in Forsyth this summer. Trent Singleton, 43, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge James England to the charge contained in an indictment on Aug. 28.  Singleton admitted he stole $19,216. Singleton entered First Home Savings Bank, 20377 U.S. Highway 160, Forsyth, at about 12:45 p.m. Monday, July 30.  He placed a green cloth bag on the counter and demanded the teller put money in the bag.  The tellers were intimidated by his demand and immediately complied.  After receiving the money, Singleton left the bank.

SPRINGFIELD, --- Her parents were meth addicts and she was forced to raise her siblings. However, Lisa Tilley still had the dream to go to college. Thanks to local foundations here in the Ozarks, her dream became a reality. "He persuaded her to start the whole life of drugs and it started from there," said Tilley. Tilley says her mother and stepfather were meth addicts. She started caring for her siblings when she was just nine years old. She says at one point, the family lived in camper that was parked in a field.

FORSYTH, Mo. -- Taney County is convening a grand jury to consider evidence in what the prosecutor described as several "complex" cases.  The panel will be in session up to six months and will be asked to look at possible indictments in criminal investigations over the past few years.     The cases that members will be examining are not made public. 

FORSYTH, Mo. -- If Tony Friend of Springfield goes to trial for murder, a jury from outside the Ozarks will hear the case here in Taney County.  Friend is charged for the shooting deaths of Becky and Rusty Porter in April 2011.  Investigators think they were taken from their home in Greene County, northeast of Willard, and killed and buried in Taney County. Circuit Judge Mark Orr on Thursday accepted Friend's request for a change of venue.  The county from which the jury will be selected is not determined, and no trial date is scheduled.

FORSYTH, Mo. -- A fourth person is charged for the murders of a couple from Willard in 2011.   The Taney County grand jury handed up an indictment on Wednesday against Windy Friend for two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder for the deaths of Rusty and Becky Porter, who lived in northern Greene County.  Windy Friend appeared in court on the charges on Thursday morning.   Windy Friend is the wife of Tony Friend, one of three other...

TANEY COUNTY, Mo. - There is a possible break in a decade-old cold case investigation on a Hollister woman's murder. Authorities are expected to release new information into the death of Becky Sutton this afternoon. Sutton was 19 years old when she disappeared from her apartment in Hollister. On the morning of March 21, 2003, a neighbor found Sutton's two year-old boy wondering outside his apartment alone. A neighbor called Sutton's mom, Susan, to tell her what was going on. Police said there were no signs of forced entry and very few clues, and they didn't call her disapperance a criminal investigation right away.

FORSYTH, Mo. -- A Taney County grand jury indicted a fifth person for the deaths of Rusty and Becky Porter of rural Greene County.   Robert Campbell is in the Taney County jail on two counts of first-degree murder.  Campbell is a brother of Rusty Porter's mother, Kay Simmons. The indictment says Campbell provided "consideration to one or more persons" to kill the Porters, and they accepted Campbell's offer.  It does not name the persons who accepted the offer. The couple, who lives northeast of Willard, disappeared in April 2011.  Their bodies turned up in a remote rural area of Taney County near Pro Tem in July 2011.   Campbell lives just a few houses away from the site of the Porters' home on Highway HH.  (The Porters' home burned down several months after their murders.)

FORSYTH, Mo. -- Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott said Friday that the deaths of a couple who lived in a rural area  northeast of Willard are being investigated as a double homicide.  A Taney County sheriff's deputy found the skeletal remains of Russell and Rebecca Porter in a rural, vacant area near Protem on Thursday morning.  No one has reported seeing the couple since April 17.  Family members relentlessly searched for the couple. Arnott said at a news conference that the remains had not been positively identified on Friday, but forensic evidence leads him to believe they are those of the Porters.  Arnott said the age of the remains was consistent with the time the couple disappeared in April.

AUBURN, Ala. -- A man from Auburn who is charged with molesting three boys at a sports camp in Taney County, Mo., is in custody.   Auburn police arrested Lee Bradberry, 22, without incident on Monday on a warrant for six charges in Missouri. Bradberry is charged there with two counts of first-degree statutory sodomy, two counts of child molestation, one count of sexual misconduct and one count of first-degree attempted statutory sodomy.  He was a counselor at Kanakuk Kamps near Branson last summer until camp leaders heard from campers that Bradberry had fondled them.  They fired him and turned the case over to law enforcement agencies.

HOLLISTER, Mo  -  The Branson area hopes to see an economic boost with the redrawing of state legislative boundaries. The old districts 143 and 62 will lose a lot of their more urban population in the Branson and Hollister area and will add a lot of geographical rural area.   That could make campaigning more difficult but could make the residents' voices more unified says Hollister City Administrator Rick Ziegenfuss. "The legislative districts reflect the county's districts, so there is kind of a homogeneous political subdivision that is being formed there," said Ziegenfuss.

TANEY COUNTY, Mo. - The pilot of a small plane was unhurt when his aircraft went off the runway at the Taney County Airport on Wednesday. According to the Western Taney County Fire Protection District, firefighters were called at roughly 10 p.m. to the airport for a report of a fuel leak. The leak was caused by a plane crash, and when firefighters arrived they found the aircraft in a wooded area northeast of the runway. The pilot suffered only bumps and bruises and didn't need medical care, firefighters said.

FORSYTH, Mo. -- Four people are charged with slashing horses on a farm near Hollister.  Amber Askins, Antwan Brown, Chadd Smith and Chris Miles are charged with burglary. Investigators believe the four people broke into a horse stable and attacked the horses there.  Prosecutors say they could face additional charges.

MERRIAM WOODS, Mo. -- Western Taney County firefighters had to put out a fire in a dump truck on Monday afternoon.   The truck burned on Highway F near Merriam Woods about 1 p.m.  When firefighters arrived, the cab of the truck was fully involved in fire and fuel from the truck was on fire and burning in the ditch, starting a small grass fire.  Firefighters from two stations got the fires out in about 15 minutes. Highway F was closed for about an hour as crews removed the truck and Missouri Department of Transportation crews cleaned up debris and inspected the road for damage.

KIRBYVILLE, Mo.--   Three suspicious incidents on Friday have parents, especially in Taney County, on high alert.  It's not clear if they're all connected, but all three involve a mini-van stopping and the driver talking to children.  On quiet Norman road near Kirbyville, Leonna Rasha didn't used to worry about her kids playing in the front yard, but that's now changed.  "I've not let them out the front door since," Rasha says. She worries someone was trying to kidnap her children.  "They had went to the neighbors and took some food over to the neighbors, and when they came back up the driveway, a van pulled in behind them," says Rasha.

FORSYTH, Mo. -- Taney County deputies are searching for a blue van after two people apparently tried to lure children to get in.   First, on Norman Road near Kirbyville, then near Taneyville on Hulls Ford Road.  The first happened Friday afternoon on Norman Road near Kirbyville.  The sheriff believes a woman and a man apparently asked two different children about a dog.  The van had "Rogersville" written above the rear license plate. Call the Taney County Sheriff's Department if you know anything about these cases.

HOLLISTER, Mo. -- Investigators in Taney County said Thursday that they've identified several vandals who broke into a farm and attacked a stable of horses.   The owner of the farm was gone when it happened and says the deep gashes were so severe that her horses may not fully recover. "Nothing made sense.  Nothing makes sense.  Things still aren't adding up," said Dee Dee Ulrich, the owner of the horses that investigators say were attacked. Ulrich said she treats her horses like family.  She is normally at her stable near Hollister every morning and every night taking care of them, but she had to leave the farm for a short trip about two weeks ago. "I can't describe the feelings that I had, because I immediately wanted to know why and who and how," Ulrich said.

OZARK, Mo. -- Christian County Commissioner Tom Huff resigned on Thursday after 20 months of doing little to satisfy the duties of his office.  Huff served on the County Commission since 2005 but attended only one meeting since December 2010 because of an injury that he received in April 2010 while performing county duties. Huff faced a civil charge that he neglected his duties and should be removed from office.  He also faces a misdemeanor charge that he broke a state law by financially benefiting from work funded with county money.  The Christian County prosecuting attorney filed both cases in late June.  The civil case will now be moot.  The criminal case has a hearing scheduled on Aug. 21 before a judge from Taney County.  The judges in Christian County recused themselves from the case.  The prosecutor says Tom Huff Asphalt and Sealing, a company owned by Huff and his wife, illegally did business with the Garrison Special Road District, which receives funding from Christian County.  The law that Huff is accused of violating says, "No member of a highway board or county commission, and no highway engineer or road overseer shall be the sales agent in the sale to, or purchase by, the state, county or road districts, of road tools, culvert or bridge materials or machinery, or be pecuniarily interested in any contract for the building of any bridge or culvert or for the improvement of any public road to which the county or any road district is a party.

FORSYTH, Mo. - Taney County Sheriff Jimmie Russell has received several reports of damage after Saturday night's strong storms. The worst of the damage is along Highway 176 north of Walnut Shade.  Deputies found numerous trees down and damage to one home.  The homeowner suffered minor injuries, but refused medical treatment. A barn collapsed in the strong winds near Bradleyville in eastern Taney County.

KISSEE MILLS, Mo. - Authorities are looking for a man who tried to rob a Kissee Mills bank Monday. KRZK radio reports the robbery attempt took place at about 12:30 p.m. at the First Home Savings Bank. A white male described by authorities as being six feet tall and roughly 200 pounds, with short hair and a short red goatee, is being sought by police at this time. According to KRZK, the suspect was barefoot, wearing shorts and had a T-shirt tied around his head. The man told bank employees he had a weapon but did not display it. No one was hurt in the incident.

TANEY COUNTY -- A single car crash in Taney County has claimed the life of a man.      According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Jacob Dickey's vehicle ran off the road on a curve while traveling down Highway J near Kirbyville. The accident happened a little before 10 o'clock Saturday night. Dickey was pronounced dead at the scene. He was 27-years old.