Former Highway Patrol Trooper Accused Of Severely Beating Wife:

Kenny Dean

A former Missouri Highway Patrol trooper is facing several charges related to the alleged domestic assault of his wife.

A law enforcement source who worked with Dean tells The Ozarks Sentinel it was exactly that kind of behavior allegedly exhibited by Dean, wasn't unusual. In fact, the source said, "It was those types of actions that resulted in his leaving the patrol."

Stone County prosecutor Matt Selby alleges that Kenny Dean, 32, Highlandville, allegedly began assaulting Tracy Dean at the couples home in Highlandville. Selby says Kenny Dean then forced his wife into a Lincoln Navigator and drove to Highway V in Stone County where "he hit her on the side of the head hard enough to knock her unconscious."

Tracy Dean says that her husband "threw Gatorade in her face" to wake her up and they then traveled to her mothers house in the Riverfork Ranch subdivision in Stone County.

While at her mother's house Tracy Dean says her husband would not let her out of the vehicle and took her cell phone. At some point during the alleged assault Tracy Dean was allowed to enter her mothers home.

According to the probable cause statement, Kenny Dean prevented his wife and her mother, Gaila Limeberry, "from leaving a bathroom by blocking the doorway. Gaila was eventually able to exit the bathroom and grab a phone which Kenny knocked out of her hand." Gaila fled the residence and ran across the street to a neighbors house for help.

Stone County Prosecutor Matt Selby

Investigators say at that "Gaila watched Kelly forced Tracy into the Lincoln Navigator. Kenny then went back into the residence to retrieve their four year-old daughter. Tracy then fled across the road to the residence on Roberston Mill Way. Kenny saw her running across the road and ran after her, with their four year-old child in his arms. When he got to the house, he grabbed her by her hair and knocked her to the porch. She then tried to crawl in the door and he grabbed her by the legs and tried to pull her out.

Tracy's mom and neighbor both tried to intervene but Kenny, "grabbed Gaila by the neck and forced her against the wall, and entered into the foyer area of the house and attempted to get at Tracy again. At that time Larry Queen came to the foyer after calling 911. He then grabbed Kenny and forced him out of his house and told him to leave."

Dean was the subject of an urgent man hunt by the Stone County Sheriff's Office on Saturday because of the attacks on his relatives. He was taken into custody several hours after the urgent plea from the sheriff's office.

Doctors say that Tracy Dean's entire body was covered in bruises and numerous scrapes and cuts consistent with an assault. They say she also had bleeding on her brain and a possible fractured wrist from the alleged assault.

Donovan Dobbs

Christian County chief assistant prosecutor Donovan Dobbs says that his office has not received any reports about the incident at the couples home from the Christian County Sheriff's Office.

When contacted about the status of an investigation into the alleged assault that started in Christian County, officials with the sheriff's office there say they are not investigating the incident.

Dean, who was assigned as a trooper to Troop D (southwest Missouri) from January of '01 to March of "04, has been charged with first-degree domestic assault, second-degree felonious restraint and second-degree domestic assault.

He was formally arraigned on the charges on February 9th and is scheduled to have his preliminary hearing on February 25, 2010, in Galena.