Human Remains Found In Trashcan Returned To Frech's Family In Florida:

-

Kelly Frech (courtesy Jeanne Frech)

It has been two months since a man was shot and killed by a Marionville police officer and nearly two months since human remains were found in the dead man's trashcan in Springfield.

I have been guarding the name of Kelly Anne Frech, who was from Longwood, Florida, for nearly two months at the request of her family members.  After KY3 publicized Kelly's identity this evening, I decided that what I have learned about Kelly and Adam needed to be told.

A few weeks ago the Greene County medical examiner positively identified the remains found in Begrseth's trash can as those of Kelly by dental records.  Ironically, Frech's remains were found on July 3rd.....on what would have been her 28th birthday.

On August 28th Corporal Matt Brown, the media relations spokesman for the SPD, said there had not been a positive identification made and that the remains had been sent to an out of state laboratory for specialized testing.  When asked if that facility was the University of North Texas, Brown said he wasn't sure.

"We did receive Kelly's remains on August 18th and we've had her funeral," said Frech's mother, Jeanne.

According to friends and roommates of Frech's, who said she met Adam Bergseth, who was shot when he lunged at a police officer with a pair of scissors, while they were both incarcerated in Florida. 

However, a check of Florida arrest records show that Kelly and Bergseth were never housed in the Seminole County jail at the same time.  Kelly had been arrested for domestic violence against a former fiance and shoplifting. "They traded accusations," said Jeanne Frech.

Frech says her daughter and Bergseth met at a crisis center in Florida.  "Kelly had been going through a hard time since the death of her father four years earlier.   She became so depressed she lost her job, she just wanted a fresh start and followed Adam to Missouri." 

At one point Bergseth told police he was homeless and it is unclear at this time if that is how or why he ended up at the crisis center.

One of Kelly's roommates said she visited Bergseth while he was incarcerated in the Seminole County jail. Late last year she announced that she was going to follow him to Missouri when he was extradited.  The friend said, "We begged her not to go.....we told her it was crazy and said what would you do if it was one of us. She said....tell you not to go. But she wouldn't listen to her own advice and went anyway."

Adam Bergseth sent the photo on the left to a friend shortly before he was shot - the photo on the right is a mug shot from the Seminole County sheriff's office

The roommate says he attempted to reach Kelly around the Christmas holiday's and Bergseth answered her phone and told him she was asleep. Kelly never returned that phone call, according to the friend.

Erica Chaffin, the woman at whoms home Bergseth was shot in Marionville, said Bergseth attempted to get her to cash checks belonging to Frech and another woman named "Jillian or Julianne Phipps."

Chaffin said she asked Bergseth about a "horrible" smell in his car.  "He said he had been messing around with a woman and her boyfriend found out and dumped pig's blood in it."

Marionville police chief Mark Webb says the smell of death prompted him to go to Bergseth's home at 1231 W. Edgewood in Springfield after he couldn't get the SPD interested in his case. 

Webb said he notified SPD about "a smell of human decomposition" in the Mitsubishi Eclipse, which belonged to Frech, that Bergseth had driven to Marionville. "They didn't seem interested at first," said Webb.

After he made the grisly discovery, he called 9-1-1 and an investigation into the remains began.  "I want them to conduct an investigation into all the ID's that were found in the car and at Adam's house," said Chief Webb.  "I believe they're probably going to find more victims....this wasn't his first rodeo.  They don't want to hear from me, and they don't return my phone calls," said Webb. 

The boyfriend of a woman who worked at Dennis Place says he became concerned when Bergseth kept appearing at the bar.  It was at this bar that Bergseth, who had been using Frech's credit card, bolted when Frech's card was declined.  His friends and roommates weren't happy when Bergseth left them left with the bill, according to Webb.

The following email is from the man:  "A couple of weeks before he was shot, he was in there, and he was buying drinks for a group of people (one of them was his roommate). When he ordered drinks from my girlfriend, and she became aware he had an open tab, she told him she needed a credit card & she was going to close him out. The cc was declined & when she told him, he just took off running out the front door. Long story short… the SPD showed up & got permission from the roommate to go into his rental house to look for him. They apparently found a bunch of I.D.’s and credit cards.


A few questions I have for investigators is when was the last time Kelly Frech actually signed her signature to a credit receipt?  Whose state issued check was Bergseth in possession of at the time of his death?

Jeanne Frech says Adam Bergseth, who grew up in California, told her daughter he had three college degrees, one of them in English.  Jeanne says she last heard from her daughter in January.  "Kelly loved art and music and her ultimate dream was to live in California.  He promised her that as soon as his probation was completed he would get her there."

"The waiting for some sort of confirmation from has been excruciating," said Frech.  "No one should ever have to go through this.  My first phone calls next week are going to be to the police department and the coroners office to get updates on what is happening in the investigation into my daughter's murder."

Branson West Business Owner Bound Over On Drug Charges:

Deepamar Singh Kohli (mug shot SCSO)

A man from Springfield will be arrainged in circuit court next month after being bound over for trial for allegedly distributing synthetic marijuana.
  
An undercover COMET Drug Task Force member who took part in a "buy" at The Star Mart in Branson West says Deepamar Kohli, 30,allegedly sold them two packages of fake marijuana and then offered a price break on two additional packages he kept in another place other than the display cabinet.

Kohli was charged after a search warrant was executed at the convenience store on March 8th.  During the search, authorities seized twelve varieties of fake pot, and another synthetic drug called "Pump It," which is similar to cocaine and/or meth.

Kohli allegedly told investigators that he knew selling synthetic drugs was illegal, but he had lab results from a pharmaceutical company that said the synthetic drugs he was selling were not illegal.

At  Kohli's preliminary hearing, his attorney, Dee Wampler, asked the undercover officer about the letter.  The officer said they had seized the documentation that was allegedly conducted by a lab that no one at the Missouri Crime Lab had ever heard of.

Kohli, is also facing additional legal trouble. While he was being questioned about the synthetic drugs, investigators asked him about a police report he filed in November of 2011 in which he claimed a former employee had stolen $7,500. 

Court documents say Kohli told the undercover officer that "business was bad and he had to borrow $5,000 from his Dad."  Kohli then allegedly hatched the scheme to make a claim with his insurance company for $7,5000. 

He is facing theft and stealing charges connected to that case and is due back in court on September 25th for a preliminary hearing in that case.

Buras Waives Prelim On Tampering With Evidence In Anderson's Murder:

-

Krystal Nicole Buras (mug shot SCSO)

The woman accused of allegedly tampering with physical evidence in connection to the February murder of Carl Anderson waived her preliminary hearing and has been bound over for trial.

Carl Anderson

Authorities say Krystal Buras, of Spring, Texas,  removed several items they believe are connected to the Highlandville man's murder from her boyfriend, Gene Crider's truck.  Law enforcers had been actively searching for Crider's truck since he, Teri Dean-Morrison and Cheryl Crawford were charged with Anderson's murder last March.

Buras' 2004 Toyota Solara was seized and searched when she appeared at the Stone County jail to visit Crider in April.  Inside the vehicle authorities found 3 cell phones, miscellaneous letters and photo's from Gene Crider, 2 pair of work gloves a shovel and  hoe, boots, a respirator, tennis shoes and a Rawlings bat, that could possibly be the murder weapon.

Dean-Morrison, Crider and Crawford are due back in court on Septemeber 12th.

Buras formally entered a plea of not guilty and is scheduled to reappear in court on November 14th.

Kimberling City Man Charged With Assault After Allegedly Stabbing Girlfriend's Husband:

-

Darrell Jesse Palmer (mug shot SCSO)

A twenty year-old man from Kimberling City was charged with assault after allegedly stabbing the husband of his girlfriend on August 25th.

Court documents say that after Darrell Jesse Palmer, his girlfriend Nicole Toolson and her husband Michael Toolson left a campground after washing clothes, a verbal fight inside a vehicle quickly turned into a physical altercation.

According to the probable cause statement, Michael Toolson told Kimberling City police officer Aaron Hoft that Darrell punched him in the face.  Toolson says that when he leaned over the seat of the car to fight back,  Palmer stabbed him with a pocket knife above his eye, forearm, back and stomach. 

None of the injuries were life-threatening, according to the probable cause statement.

Palmer is also facing charges of second and third degree and misdemeanor assault in unrelated cases.

He is due back in court on all the charges on September 4th.

Collett Bound Over On New Charges:

-

Robin Collett (mug shot SCSO)

A Galena woman who is facing charges of burglary waived her preliminary hearing and has been bound over for trial.

Authorities say thirty two year-old Robin Collett and her boyfriends 16 year-old son were allegedly caught stripping copper pipe from some foreclosed condos' in Indian Point on July 16th.

Indian Point officer Emily Carpenter says she was on routine patrol when she noticed a Maroon car parked near the condominiums at 39 Songbird Land. As Carpenter approached the condo's Collett and the teen were walking out of the structure.

Collett admitted to bringing burglary tools to break into the condo's.  When Collett's car was searched, a white powdery substance and a razor that field tested positive for illegal drugs was found in the woman's purse when it was searched.

Collett is also facing first degree assault and armed criminal action charges in connection to an unrelated incident over the Memorial Day weekend in which Trevor Schumacher was beaten with rocks and a canoe paddle near Bakers Hole. Court documents say Collett's boyfriend, Christopher Gilmore and Billy Jack Taylor also held Schumacher's head underwater while he was being beaten.



Christopher C. Gilmore (mug shot SCSO)

Schumacher told authorities he believed he would have been killed if his sister Amanda Ireland had not intervened.

Billy Jack Taylor (mug shot SCSO)

In the probable cause statement filed against Collett on the assault charges, Ireland told investigators that Collett chased her with a canoe paddle and threatened to kill her and her unborn baby.

The preliminary hearings on the assault charges for Collett, Gilmore and Taylor is scheduled for October 9th.

Flood Bound Over On Domestic Assault Charges:

-

Jay 'Brent" Flood (mug shot SCSO)

A man from Billings was bound over for trial last week for the alleged assault of his estranged wife in May.

Ashley Flood told authorities that she was supposed to meet her husband at the flagpole at the Hurley school for an exchange of their four children.  When Jay "Brent" Flood, 26, failed to show up for the exchange, Ashley went to Brent's father's house near Hurley.

During the preliminary hearing Ashley told the court that as she was getting her one year-old son out of her truck one of the other children ran outside and said "come inside...dad is hurt really bad."

Ashely said she asked Ethan Flood to accompany her to the house but that Brent was coming out of the house as they approached.  She said Brent's face was bruised, and it appeared his nose was broken.

When she asked him what happened, he said "you know what happened," and alleged she had arranged to have him beaten up.

Ashley says Brent then followed her to her truck where he allegedly punched her and reached in the vehicle and took her cell phone.

The woman says Flood then grabbed her by the back of the hair and pulled her out of the vehicle, punched her in the back of the head and kneed her in the ribs as she fell to the ground.

Ashley Flood says the assault stopped when one of the children ran to help her and Brent Flood raised his hand to stop him.

Ashley then went to a nearby neighbor's home to call police.

Brent Flood is scheduled to be arraigned in circuit court on October 2nd.

McLaughlin Will Stand Trial On Sex Charges Involving Children:

-

John Robert McLaughlin (mug shot SCSO)

Judge Carr Woods found that there is enough evidence against an elderly man from Reeds Spring who is facing multiple sex charges involving children to stand trial.

John Robert McLaughlin was charged with seven counts of child molestation, one count statutory sodomy, and two counts of sexual misconduct with a minor in April.

Court records allege that the seventy two year-old man allegedly inappropriately touched two girl's, who were five to ten years-old at the time of the alleged assaults, several times from 2002 - 2010 at his home at 416 Othello Road.

McLaughlin, who is being represented by Stacie Bilyeu, is free on bond adn due back in court on September 4th.

A Walk Through The Valley of Meth:

-

For those of us who deal with courts, we know the wheels of justice move slowly. It usually takes a year-and-a-half for resolution on most cases because courts have an overwhelming case load.
-
There aren't enough prosecutors or judges and the public defenders office in most counties in Missouri are burdened with a case load so large that they have taken the drastic step of turning cases down. That move is being challenged in court by Christian County.

Criminals who are "frequent fliers" have learned that when they break the law it will take forever for a case to make it to court and they break the law repeatedly. It's a turnstile for those who cover courts and see the same people charged over and over.

Most of the time we see these people placed on probation only to break the law again and the cycle starts all over. I hear people say, "well if judges and prosecutors would give stiff sentences they wouldn't break the law." But the same people who say that don't want to pay additional taxes that would fund the building of new jails, additional staff for prosecutor's and public defender's offices and place additional judges on the bench.

-

Recently, Paul Toohey, a journalist with the The Telegraph in Australia, visited Stone County to write a story on the methamphetamine epidemic that has plagued the county, and placed an overwhelming case load on the court system.

-

Judge Alan Blankenship and Prosecutor Matt Selby have done an amazing job with the drug court in the county that gives substance abusers a last chance to turn their lives around. 
-
Most of the people that enter drug court successfully complete the stringent requirements.

"It's not an easy or cheap program," said Blankenship. "It's an 18 month long program and costs participants about $1,800. They must check in with an 800# everyday and are subjected to random drug and alcohol testing. By the time they graduate from the program each person will have probably been tested at least 150 times."

There was "little to no treatment" available in Stone County to those truly seeking help when the program was implemented in September of 2004, according to Blankenship. 

Selby's office is very involved with the program, "The drug court staff is made up of teams from the court, the prosecutor's office, probation and parole, law enforcement, a treatment team and counselors from Larry Simmering Recovery Center and Alliance Counseling," said Selby.

Not everyone who applies to the program or who looks good on paper is accepted in to the program. Blankenship says 90% of graduates go on to never be charged with a crime again.
-

The article that follows was written Toohey following his walk through the valley of meth with Richard "Tony" Ford.

-
Inside Missouri's meth belt - by Paul Toohey

- When police from Stone County in southwest Missouri raid a meth home, they always find something curious along with the drug paraphernalia - the shell-shocked children and the filth. Shoved into drawers will be toasters, remote controls and cell phones, all torn into bits. And almost always, rock collections.

Something in the fixated mind of a methamphetamine addict drives them to examine the inner working of electronics, or to fascinate over rocks.

"I had buckets of rocks," says Savella Elmore, 30, a former meth addict of Joplin, Missouri. "I thought they were Indian arrowheads. It turned out they were just rocks."

Missouri, in America's mid-south, is known as the world's home-cooked meth capital. This is the Ozarks, a mountain plateau that stretches through Missouri down to Arkansas. The population is white and poor.

The Ozarks is rugged and beautiful and people live on small farms or on heavily wooded rural blocks. "Hillbilly" is a term people once fought off as an insult, but have finally embraced as a point of pride. It is Hillbilly central. They are isolated and, ever since the Civil War, when Confederates escaped here to avoid authorities or to nurse terrible memories, people are known to mind their own business. A remote cabin or trailer home is the perfect place to cook up a chemical stink of meth. And some of these shacks have produced generations of meth addicts.
-
"The people here are just as smart as anywhere else, but they're laid back, speak slow and don't trust the government," says Tim Carpenter, an Ozarks drug task force cop. "But they're smart."

Chris Yates, a former meth cook, gives his explanation as to why meth is so prevalent here. "This is the Bible belt," he says. "I really believe Satan works his hardest in the places where God is the strongest."

All meth addicts tell of encountering hallucinatory "tree demons" in the woods, but there may be more earthly explanations why meth has bit so hard here. People once made moonshine whisky, but when that became too hard, locals - and Johnny Cash, from south Arkansas, was one of them - bought mail-order speed pills in bulk.

Tony Ford, 51, a meth cook and addict now before the courts, said the pills made better sense than whisky.

"With those pills, you could row crops with a rope and you wouldn't need a mule," he says. When the mail-order supply was cut, people started making their own crude amphetamines. Meth took a chokehold here 40 years ago.
-
"Around here, it's crazy how many people use," says Tony. "I've known addicts 90 years old. They still take it, just to get high, just to keep going."

People are comfortable in these woods. They hunt and they fish. And they cook meth. The drug cartels still shift high-quality meth up from Mexico, but the reality of the Ozarks is that there are no Mr Bigs working in super labs, as portrayed in the Breaking Bad series.

Addicts cook for themselves and make small profits on the side.

Meth cooking involves heat and pressure and is high-risk. But the ingredients, which always include pseudoephedrine cold tablets as the main precursor, are easily obtained.
.
They make three kinds of meth around here: "Red Black", which uses phosphorous, iodine and lye (drain cleaner); "Annie", a white meth that uses anhydrous ammonium; and Shake and Bake.

Shake and Bake, a relatively new method, is simple and dangerous. It is low-yield but keeps a meth addict going. All that's needed is a two-litre soft drink bottle and the key ingredients. The clear bottle is imperative. The liquid mix is so volatile it actually flames and needs to be "burped" by opening the lid now and then to ease the pressure. The word "burped" has connotations of nursing a baby, which is fitting. People have been arrested in shopping centres carrying mobile Shake and Bake labs.

Tony Ford is one of the many who blew himself up with Shake. He is attending Judge Alan Blankenship's drug court in the tiny town of Galena, in southwest Missouri.

He says it's his last chance for deliverance. A long-time meth cook and user who's spent 17 years of his life in prison for meth crimes, Tony says jail became too easy for him - "I could do it standing on my head" - and he decided to give himself one last shot by attending drug court.

The police have mixed feelings about guys like Tony being diverted from prison to drug court.

There is a view that anyone known as a meth cook, rather than just a user, ought not get the benefits of attending a drug court program, which allows a person to live at home, work, attend intensive counselling and be subject to constant urine tests.

The problem is that Tony Ford is not just an accomplished meth cook. He's also an addict. He's coming out of 30 years of meth abuse in surprisingly good shape, though his wife, Teresa, who has lost some of her bottom teeth, has done it hard and is still battling addiction.

Richard Anthony "Tony" Ford (mug shot SCSO)

Looking at the people in Judge Blankenship's drug court, it is the women who appear most damaged from the physical ravages of meth. So many of them are toothless and have distorted, twisting, sunken geriatric mouths. Many of them have had their children removed and are here, fighting their addiction, to win back their kids.

In 2009, Teresa was just home from prison on a meth stint when two bottles of Shake that Tony was brewing exploded. Teresa drove him to hospital, let him out the door and fled. She was on parole and scared she'd be sent back to prison. "His skin was melting off," Teresa says.

As Tony lay in the critical ward, with burns to 30 per cent of his body, Teresa hid out for a week before she finally went to see him. Both were charged but both since returned to using. Tony last used meth on July 3 and Teresa is vague about her using status.

"Your personality changes," says Teresa. "You lie, you steal, you become scandalous. You're not the same person. You only care about yourself and your addiction."

Their adult children did not inherit their drug problems. But now Tony and Teresa have small grandchildren, they are desperate to be something more than meth addicts.

They attend the Freedom Seekers church in Blue Eye, near the Arkansas border. The preacher, Pastor Ron Hutchins, is a former cocaine and meth user. Church is important for most Missourians, but this little assembly is different.
-
At the Saturday evening session, Pastor Ron asks who in the congregation of 30 or so has battled meth. Most put up their hands. Pastor Ron plays loud Christian rock and the joint turns into a mosh pit, people jumping and raising their arms.

The church is informal. No one is condemned. People stand and give their testimonies.

One of them is Chris Yates, 37, who used to drive meth for the Mexican cartels and has spent 17 years of his life in juvenile homes or prisons.

Chris thought he'd shaken his addiction in 2010, but then he "backslid". "I just went back to it - it's not hard to find another addict," he says. He says you just look for a person who twitches and exhibits high paranoia. Then Chris found Pastor Ron's church, met and last year married a beautiful woman, Melanie, who has no history of addiction.

Chris has attended Narcotics Anonymous, a 12-step program that casts a person as a lifelong addict always on the point of backsliding. He does not like this language. He says he was cured after God directly intervened to save him. "I've been set free," he says. "I believe I am delivered from addiction." Melanie is certain Chris is beyond meth. Others in this region, even those who place their lives in God's hands, worry about such claims of miraculous salvation. Meth, they say, is the Devil. And he never goes away.

All users say their first intravenous meth shot was a high point in their lives. "Everything was awesome," says Savella. "For a while."

Meth rockets the body's natural dopamine levels to give an exquisite high. But it also destroys the dopamine balance, bringing profound lows.

The classic meth addict is always on a search to feel normal. The descent follows the same pattern: people lose their jobs, steal, live in squalor and, at worst, will sell their children for sex to get meth.
-
"Nobody we talk to that's honest with us says they love this," says Tim Carpenter, the cop. "They hate it."

Judge Blankenship is an elected judge of 10 years standing in Stone County. In the early days he had to fight a view in his strongly conservative area that his drug court cut users too much slack.

Judge Alan Blankenship

People choose to attend drug court to avoid prison, but the judge argues drug court is harder.

"It's harder than other alternatives because we expect people to change their lives," says the judge.

On Monday, there were about 60 Stone County locals in the judge's drug court. A certain amount of failure is expected, because these people are addicts. But the court works: the non-recidivist rate from US drug courts is 90 per cent, while prison recidivism runs at about 50 to 60 per cent.

The judge, parole officers, sheriffs and counsellors are intimately involved in the lives of the addicts. Their proudest achievement is seeing the birth of drug-free babies.

Judge Blankenship calls everyone to the bench, shakes their hand, and offers warm encouragement to those in compliance with the treatment program.

Those who have missed urine tests, tested positive or committed other breaches are sent straight into the cells for a night or two or, at worst, booted from the course and sent to prison.

Everyone attending the court has a similar tale. Caleb True, 35, with a Jesus tatt on his neck, looks like someone you might expect to meet on Death Row.

On this day, True is graduating from drug court after 18 months. The judge tells True he never thought he was going to make it.

"I'm proud of you," the judge says. When True first turned up in drug court, he was rat-skinny, wore a mohawk, and had a long history of using, making and selling meth.

True once left his own six-year-old daughter in the shower and wandered off to score meth and never came back.

When he was selling, he remembers his disgust at himself, and his customers, who would leave their small children with him, a stranger, while they went to the bathroom to shoot up. He saw an addict drop dead at his feet after one of his buddies sold him a syringe of battery acid. Another friend was so out of it she left her baby in a house after it caught alight from a meth explosion. The baby died and that woman is now serving life.

"There's not a day that goes by I don't think about it," he says. "It was a routine, a ritual. Meth meant everything to me. I would go in the woods and get high and stay up for days, walking along creeks. I wouldn't need anybody."

He's seen the flitting black shapes in the woods. The last time he was arrested, he ran from a meth house into the woods as it was raided. This phantom was a father figure, who told him to stop running and lay down his head. He remembers waking up to the county sheriff, pointing a gun at him.

True was considered an impossible case, an irreparable backwoods' meth man. With the help of the drug court, he's made it. The whole court is emotional as True thanks the judge, the sheriff, his counsellors and parole officer for saving his life.

"The real addict can't function," he says. "I can't do it. I can't. All it takes is once and I'm gone, using it every minute. Now I look forward to the best. With meth, after you first use, you feel good, but then you feel everything's f ... . . up. So you keep on using. You feel great but it tears you down."

Authorities Investigating Two Separate Attempted Child Abductions In Taney County:

-

The Taney County Sheriff’s Office is investigating two separate attempted child abductions this (08-17-12) afternoon and authorities are asking for help from the public in locating the possible suspects and their vehicle.

Sheriff Jimmie Russell says that a white man and woman pulled up to a residence on Norman Road near Kirbyville about 1:30 pm. and says the woman attempted to lure two children who were playing in the yard to the vehicle by asking if they had seen her dog.  The couple was said to be driving a blue mini van that could have a black hood.

In the second incident, a child was approached on Hulls Ford Road near Taneyville about 4:30 p.m.  Russell says a woman driving a blue mini van with the word "Rogersville" above the rear license plate asked the boy if he had seen her dog and then asked where he was going.  When the child said he was going home, the woman repeatedly tried to get the child to get in the van with her by saying she would take him home. When the child turned and walked away, the female in the van left.

If anyone sees a blue mini van with the word “Rogersville” above the rear license plate please contact the Taney County Sheriff’s Office at 417-546-7250 or call 9-1-1. 
-
UPDATE 08-23-12:

Sheriff Russell says that a person who lives near the incident on Norman Road came forward on the 17th after it was learned they were being sought. 

Russell says, "This person heard what we were looking for and came forward saying that they believed they are the people that made the contact on Norman Road. This was a person living in the area. At this time there is no reason to believe that this was an attempted abduction or in any way any type of criminal activity."

"We also have determined that this incident is not related to the incident on Hulls Ford Road on the same afternoon. Although both incidents were similar with very close vehicle descriptions and the use of a dog to initiate contact, they are not related. We are still looking for a blue mini-van with the word Rogersville above the back license plate in connection to the Hulls Ford incident, said Russell." 

Defamation Suits Filed By Stone County Deputies Dismissed:

-

Jessica White

The defamation lawsuit filed by two Stone County deputies against Crane Alderwoman Jessica White, her former attorney Dale Wiley and others has been dismissed without prejudice.

White, her husband and father-in-law have accused Stone County deputies Brandon Flack and Taylor Jenkins of using excessive force and "police brutality" when they were arrested last May.

White and her family were returning from an outing at the city park in Crane when they encountered a Stone County deputy who had pulled over Brittany Barnett, who is Jessica White's cousin, for a traffic violation in their driveway. 

When the deputy ran the occupants of the vehicle for warrants, he found that one of the people in the car, Thomas Barnett, was wanted for not paying a traffic fine in Crane.

The deputy called for back-up from a Crane police officer. "I was telling her (Brittany) to be quiet and listen to the officers," White said at meeting in Wiley's office. "By her disrespecting them I felt like she was disrespecting me."

Wiley said in a news release, that White, her husband Jordan, and her father-in-law Donny "Stick" White were told to move to the carport and not go inside by the officers. "Then two late-arriving officers came and began to shine their flashlights into the White's cars, in the cutilage of their house. They did not have any logical reason, much less probable cause, to do so. They certainly did not have a warrant."

Court records say that Jordan Ray White  attempted to intimidate officers at the scene by ordering them off of his property. "I informed White to sit down and remain quiet," White then screamed "this is my f*****g property." As Jenkins attempted to arrest Jordan White, he allegedly drew back his fist in an attempt to strike the deputy. Jenkins used his forearm and bicep to block the punch and struck White in the face, according to court documents. He has been charged with resisting or interfering with an arrest.

According to the probable cause statement filed against Donald "Stick" White, the man allegedly attempted to punch deputies Flack and Jenkins. When he was ordered to put his hands behind his back he refused to comply and continued to fight with officers, at which point he was tazed. He has been charged with resisting or interfering with an arrest.

Jessica Beth White, 31, who is Ward 1 Alderwoman, allegedly hit Jenkins in the back of the head in the melee, according to court records. She has been charged with misdemeanor assault of a law enforcement officer.

To support the allegations that the deputies used excessive force in the arrest of the White's, Wiley set up the website www.stonecountypolicebrutality.com that shows video taken during the melee. That website has garnered thousands of hits since it was posted online.
-
"I have information that Dale Wiley either edited that video or he had the video edited. We would like to see the whole unedited tape," said Richard Crites, an attorney and Stone County Reserve deputy who represented Flack and Jenkins when the defamation suit was filed.

"My clients had the right to be in that driveway. Brittany Barnett pulled in there - they didn't need probable cause...they had reasonable suspicion," Crites said. She (Jessica White) reacted because she was drunk. Alcohol and stupidity go like bacon and eggs."

“I don't care what Dale Wiley says, you don't have an excuse to go up and hit somebody in the head that's a cop. Dale Wiley wants everyone in Stone County to believe that Stone County deputies are brutal. It's all about money."

Stone County prosecutor Matt Selby recused himself in the White's cases.  The attorney generals office will now represent the state.

Deputy Flack has been named in several recent lawsuits that have been filed in federal courts in Springfield and Kansas City that claim he caused injuries to people when he arrested them.

Sources say that Flack tendered his two week notice to the sheriff's office on August 14th.  Sheriff Richard Hill, who was in Kansas City for an annual meeting of county sheriff's, was unavailable for comment last week. However, Chief Deputy Rich Anderson said, " I cannot confirm or deny if it happened.  I can't comment on personnel matters....you're just going to have to wait until the sheriff gets back on Monday."

UPDATE- Sheriff Hill has confirmed that Flack, "has taken a non law enforcement job."

Calls to Crites and the White's attorney's Steve Garner and Chandler Gregg have not been returned. 

Jessica White recently had surgery to repair damage to her knee she sustained in the altercation with Flack and Jenkins.  She is scheduled to reappear in court on September 18th.

Because the defamation suit was dismissed without prejudice, it can be refiled at a later date.

~BREAKING~ State Drug Charges Dismissed Against Primary Suspect In Porter Homicides:

-



Tony and Windy Friend (mug shots GCSO)

-
The Greene County prosecutor's office has dismissed state drug charges against Tony and Windy Friend that were filed in late May.
-
When those charges were filed, court records named Tony Lee Friend the "primary suspect" in the murders of Rusty and Becky Porter. The Porter's vanished from their home in April of 2011 and their remains were found in a rural part of Taney County three months later.  They each had been shot in the head, according to Taney County Coroner Kevin Tweedy.
-
Court records say Tony Friend, 44, grew up near where the couple's remains were found, and that he "often visited the exact location."   Authorities also say Tony Friend threatened a deputy, and the family of a Greene County detective who is involved in the Porter homicide investigation.  They also say he made threats against state and federal judicial centers.
-
When authorities raided the heavily fortified mobile home of the Friend's in May, they allegedly found several weapons that were illegal for Tony Friend to possess, because he is a convicted felon.
-
Todd Myers, the chief assistant prosecutor in Greene County, says he is limited in what he can say since the charges were dismissed, but did say the state was not in a position to proceed with the prosecution of the Friend's at this time, and that he doesn't anticipate the re-filing of drug charges connected to the case against the couple.
-
Tony Friend remains jailed on federal weapons charges while his wife, Windy, was released from custody yesterday (August 13th.)
-
Neither of the Friend's have ever been been charged in connection to the double homicide of the Porter's.  The investigation into the murders of the Porter's is ongoing, according to authorities.

More Flack For Sheriff, Deputy and County:

-

Stone County Sheriff Richard Hill

More flack for authorities in Stone County regarding a deputy accused of using excessive force when making arrests.

The Chronicle has reported on the July 4th arrest of Seth Fagan, 20, of Reeds Spring, since the incident was filed in state court. Now Fagan's attorney Brandon Potter, who filed the suit last week in federal court in Kansas City, says Deputy Brandon Flack assaulted his client.

Potter, of Whiteaker and Wilson of Springfield, also represents Robin Miller and his wife who have filed a similar suit against Flack, Stone County Sheriff Richard Hill and Stone County in federal court in Springfield.

Crane alderwoman Jessica White has also retained the law firm in relation to her arrest in May for assault of a law enforcement officer. Flack and Deputy Taylor Jenkins arrested White, her husband and father-in-law following a traffic stop on the White's property in which her cousin was arrested.

According to the complaint, Flack arrested Fagan after he was dispatched to the Y Bridge in Galena for a fight in progress about 10:27 p.m. following the fireworks celebration in Galena on the fourth of July.

According to a probable cause statement filed by Flack, "As I approached Seth I observed that his black clothing was covered in what appeared to be white dust which would to be consistent with the dust on the ground at the Cox Access. As I illuminated Seth with my flashlight I observed he had a bloody bottom lip and scuff marks, small lacerations to his elbows. Seth was sweating profusely and attempting to send what appeared to be a text message for his cell phone."

"Seth was failing to listen to my commands to stay seated while I was speaking with Central Dispatch. After approximately three time of asking Seth to sit down he opened his flip phone and snapped it in half holding both section of the phone in opposite hands. He then brought back both hands to approximately shoulder height and threw both sections of the cell phone striking both of my legs."

Flack says Fagan, 20, of Reeds Spring, resisted arrest twice by "using his weight against mine to pull me around."

Potter says Fagan, who was charged with minor in possession and resisting arrest, both misdemeanors, suffered "a broken nose and numerous cuts and bruises" when he was arrested by Flack.

In the federal filing, Fagan says he was sitting on a guardrail near a bridge, texting on his cell phone for a ride home when Flack told him to get off his phone and drop it to the ground. Fagan says he dropped his phone and Flack stepped on it, breaking the phone. Fagan asked Flack why he had broken the phone and Flack arrested Fagan, placing him in handcuffs, the complaint reads. Fagan claims as Flack led him down a hill he pushed him down, causing him to roll down the hill.

The complaint goes on to state “Flack held Fagan down by placing his knee on Fagan’s throat, causing him not to be able to breathe until he passed out.”  It also states "that just before another officer arrived at the scene Deputy Flack let Fagan up hitting Fagan in the nose with his elbow."

Attorney Brandon C. Potter

The complaint mentions prior incidents alleging excessive force used by Flack while he was employed by the Branson West police department, as does the other suit, filed by the Miller's of Reeds Spring. The filing also notes that a witness told an investigator with the public defender's office that he was "disturbed" by the amount of force Flack used to arrest Charles Taulbee. Taulbee was charged with resisting arrest in July of 2011 by prosecutor Matt Selby, however, those charges were eventually dropped.

Included in the federal filing is a memo filed by supervisors of Flack's when he was employed by the Branson West Police Department. It said officials “have had several conversations with Officer Flack about his demeanor in dealing with people on the street. Officer Flack has been overbearing and forceful with people when it is not called for.”

It states officials in the Branson West department had received information that Flack was been responding to calls for which he was not dispatched.

It goes on to describe an incident in November of 2009, in which Flack reportedly continued to a call in Kimberling City after he was instructed not to. It says other officers heard the call to discontinue and called him [Flack] in an attempt to get him to discontinue. “Officer Flack still responded,” the memo states. “On scene, he became very forceful with the victim. This was reported to me from the Kimberling City (Police Department).”

The memo states officials confronted Flack the next day. “I advised him that his demeanor in talking and handling people has to change,” the memo reads. “We had already had several conversations about this...I advised Officer Flack that this behavior will not be tolerated.”

The complaint references other situations alleging Flack's, who has been employed by the county since April of 2010, use of excessive force is common. It also states, “there exists a significantly disproportionate number of citizens charged with resisting arrest which have included the use of force/unnecessary force when compared to other Stone County officers.”

Hill and the county are named in the suit because it alleges that Hill has not properly trained Flack and "Sheriff Hill has never reprimanded Flack, suspended Flack, or terminated Flack for his actions." It goes on to state, "Sheriff Hill has himself or allowed other policy makers to train officers to use an amount of force to purposely create fear in Stone County citizens of Stone County deputies."

It also alleges that authorities in Stone County did nothing when they were informed of an alleged domestic assault situation involving "his spouse/girlfriend that was reported to Stone County by Taney County law enforcement."

In response to White's claim and a video posted on the Internet by White's former attorney Dale Wiley claiming police brutality in the White's arrests, Flack and Jenkins, filed a defamation lawsuit against White, Wiley and et. al (others) in Greene County.

Unsealed Court Records Reveal New Details In Anderson's Murder:

-

Disturbing details have emerged in the case of three people charged in Stone County with the murder of Highlandville man earlier this year.

Newly unsealed search warrant application and returns say Teri Dean-Morrison and Cheryl Crawford went to the home of Carl Anderson when he was missing to retrieve an "eight ball of meth."

The forty six year-old man's family reported him missing on February 25th after he failed to return home after going to Dean-Morrison's home near Hootentown on February 23rd to make repairs. 

Anderson's family members told detectives that they could not reach him on his cell phone, which he always kept with him because his mother Ruby Stutesman , whom he cared for, was in poor health and "he would not want to be out of reach in case something would happen to her."  They also told investigators that Anderson had "multiple health issues" and relied on prescription medication to manage those problems.

On February 27th Dean-Morrison told Christian County detective Brad Cole that she, Crawford and a neighbor/friend, Janie Wanglie, had lunch with Anderson at Bumstead's in Nixa before Crawford took them to "her and Teri's house" at 263 Akita Run.  Dean-Morrison said shortly after they arrived, Anderson began complaining about pain and asked her to go to his house and retrieve medication. 

Carl Glenn Anderson

Dean-Morrison told Cole that she and Crawford went to Anderson's house together where his sister, Vicki Lewallen, retrieved a single dose of Anderson's medication from a shed and she returned to her home and gave Anderson the medication. 

Lewallen told investigators that when she opened the outbuilding "she pointed out Carl's prescription medication but Teri wanted something else and pointed to a ledge near the inner roof line of the outbuilding.  Vicki said she reached up and retrieved an eight-ball of meth and handed it to Teri," according to court records.

Lewallen says Dean-Morrison asked Crawford "if that was all they were supposed to get." To which Crawford, who was standing near her vehicle replied..."I don't know nothing."

Dean-Morrison says that shortly after the women returned with the medication "Carl became upset because several people, including Cheryl, owed him money for services provided.  Teri said she had a brief verbal argument with Carl, stating that Carl owed her over two thousand dollars."

Sources say Dean-Morrison and Crawford were allegedly involved in an intimate relationship

When investigators searched the outbuilding where Anderson's prescription medication was kept, they found methamphetamine paraphernalia and a Nartec test ampule that is commonly used by law enforcement agencies to conduct field tests for the presence of meth.

According to one of the returns, Dean-Morrison says that Anderson changed his mind about attending her son's basketball game in Spokane and she returned him to his mother's home about 4:30 p.m. on February 23rd.  Crawford says she didn't accompany them and instead met Dean-Morrison at a convenience store in Spokane and from there they went to the basketball game.

However, after investigators received Anderson's cell phone records it was determined that one of the last transmissions from the phone was registered to a wooded area near Dean-Morrison's home about an hour after Dean-Morrison said she returned Anderson to his mother's home.

On March 4th, Stone County Detective Mike Denton accompanied Christian County authorities to Dean Morrison's home to investigate Anderson's disappearance and noted that carpeting had been replaced and was, "so new that it had not even been nailed to the tack strips used to hold the carpet in place."  Denton stated, "an exterior living room window was replaced earlier that day and shattered glass was found on the front porch," according to the documents.

Dean-Morrison's home at 263 Akita Run

When a search warrant was executed on Dean-Morrison's property on March 6th, authorities observed "a large amount of blood spatter" in Dean-Morrison's bedroom.  They also noted that carpet in the master bedroom was new, as were the bedroom windows.  "Numerous blood stains were found on the ceiling, ceiling fan, bedroom wall and other areas of the bedroom."  Additional blood was found on a wall separating the master bedroom from the living room.  Denton writes in the documents, "I observed that someone had attempted to clean these areas and repaint the ceiling."

Investigators found a broken window frame with dried blood on it in the laundry room of the house, a broken door frame with blood on it and a piece of broken wooden trim with dried blood during the execution of the warrant. "The blood sample(s) were sent to the Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Laboratory for identification purposes and on March 9th it was determined that the blood belonged to Carl Anderson.
-
Authorities found receipts for household cleaning supplies, ceiling texture, windows and carpet from Wal-Mart and Lowe's, dated within 24 hours of Anderson's disappearance, in the search. An Oklahoma toll receipt, dated around the time that Anderson went missing, was also observed in Crider's truck.

When Eugene "Gene" Crider, who lived in a camper trailer on Dean-Morrison's property, was first questioned by authorities he denied having any knowledge or involvement in Anderson's disappearance.  However, in the search on March 6th, authorities found him to be in possession of a receipt dated February 24th from Wal-Mart in Ozark for cleaning supplies and repair items found in Dean-Morrison's bedroom.  Detectives also observed a gas can and shovel, a pair of tennis shoes, pieces of broken glass and drywall debris in the bed of Crider's pickup truck during the search, according to court documents.

Using the receipts as a reference, authorities obtained security videos from the stores and found that Crider had accompanied Dean-Morrison when she purchased the remodeling supplies.

On March 5th, a confidential informant told authorities that a man named "Willy" killed Anderson because he was jealous of the relationship between Anderson and Dean-Morrison.  The CI told investigators "it was not right what happened to Carl.  He said "there had been an altercation at Teri's residence and he didn't know what they did with Carl after that."  When Stone County Detective Shawn Fields asked Dean-Morrison if "Willy" killed Carl she allegedly said "she didn't know." 

"I advised Teri that I knew Carl was killed in her house and that she knew who did it.  I again asked Teri if Willy killed Carl.  Teri made direct eye contact with me and stated, NO."  Dean-Morrison asked Fields if she could call him on March 7th to discuss the case further....that call never came, according to the newly released documents.

When deputies went back to talk to Dean-Morrison, Crider and Crawford the trio had disappeared. They were arrested March 9th near Lake Ozark and charged with tampering with physical evidence, according to court records.

According to the probable cause statement, cell phone records led authorities to get a search warrant for Earl Kearney's property at 55 Kearney Lane off of Highway OO near Reeds Spring on March 19th.  Kearney's property, which has two houses and sits on 33 acres, has several ponds.

Kearney, who is a former boyfriend and was Dean-Morrison's employer, contacted Detective Fields on February 28th and "advised" him "he didn't want him speaking to Teri Dean-Morrison any further."

Dean-Morrison's phone records show she made a call to Kearney at 3:39 p.m. on February 23rd.  Cheryl Crawford also called Kearney at 5:38 p.m. the same day.  At 9:54 a.m. the following day Dean-Morrison made another call to Kearney.

The phone records indicate that Crider was in the vicinity of Kearney's property at 11:33 p.m. on February 23rd and again the next day from 11:36 a.m. to 4:48 p.m.  Cell tower triangulation shows Dean-Morrison in the same vicinity at 11:37 a.m. on February 24th.

During the search of Kearney's property on March 19th, three cadaver dogs "showed interest in areas of the property including a large pond on the northern end of the property."  Other smaller pond/s and water features were not able to be properly searched that day, according to court records.

55 Kearney Lane (google)

On March 21st a friend of Crider's allegedly told Detective Matt Maggard that he (Crider) "burned the body of Carl Anderson after Teri and Cheryl murdered him.  Eugene told them after the body was burned, he took the larger organs and disposed of them in a body of water and took the ashes and put them in several places."


During a second search of Kearney's property on March 21st, authorities recovered 31 bags of charred material surrounding the larger pond and one fleshy charred object from the floor of the pond.

The Missouri Highway Patrol crime lab confirmed that the remains belonged to Anderson from DNA recovered from the unidentified human tissue found in the pond.

Authorities had been unable to find Crider's truck, that they believed held vital evidence and was possibly used to transport Anderson's body to Kearney's property, until Krystal Nicole Buras of Spring, Texas,  showed up to visit Crider at the Stone County jail on March 31st.

Detectives met the 30 year-old woman in the lobby of the jail and asked to interview her and seized her car while she was being questioned.  When confronted with evidence by a detective,  Buras told investigators where they could find the missing truck.

Krystal Nicole Buras

She has been charged with tampering with physical evidence for allegedly removing "items that were likely used at the site of the murder,” from her boyfriend's tuck.  Items recovered from her vehicle included a baseball bat, a respirator, a wood handled shovel, a hoe, work boots, work gloves and tennis shoes.  In addition, several clothing items and cell phones were recovered.

Dean-Morrison and Crider have been granted a change of venue for their trial.  They are now scheduled to be held in Lawrence County.  Crawford's attorney is expected to make a similar motion.

All three murder defendants, who are also charged with tampering with physical evidence, are scheduled to make court appearances on September 6th.

Guilty Pleas In Stone County Drug Cases:

-

Richard Anthony Ford (mug shot SCSO)

It was a quick resolution in the cases of two Stone County men who have pleaded guilty to meth related drug offenses.

A deputy checking on the well being of a woman in Blue Eye last month arrested Richard Anthony Ford, 44, after finding seven small baggies of meth and syringes in Ford's possession. When Ford was being questioned by police, he told them he got the drugs from Gary Ray Martin.

During a search of Martin's Joyland Road property in Shell Knob similar baggies of the drug were found. They also seized Coleman fuel, muriatic acid, drain cleaner and bottles containing a white crystal powder in the search.

Gary Ray Martin (mug shot SCSO)

-

Prosecuting attorney Matt Selby says Martin, 54, was sentenced to 6 years in prison for possessing chemicals with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine.
-
Ford was given a 7 years suspended sentence and placed on five years probation.  He was also ordered to drug court.

Rader Wins Big - Incumbents Returned To Office:

-



Candidates Sharon Walles and Mark Maples watch election returns at their watch party at JRaes in Hurley

Voters in Stone County turned out in droves on Tuesday and elected a new sheriff and returned three incumbents to office.

Doug Rader defeated Sheriff Richard Hill, who has been in office since 1977, by a two to one margin. In unofficial returns, Rader garnered 5,132 votes to Hill's 2,508 votes.

This was Rader’s, who is the police chief in Branson West, first bid for sheriff. He was previously the director of operations for the Northeast Missouri Drug Task Force prior to joining the Branson West PD eight years ago. He has a total of 22 years of law enforcement experience.

"I'm very humbled and honored that the people of Stone County have chose me as their next Sheriff," said Rader. "I will work very diligently to make them proud to have me as their sheriff."

Voters said they liked the job that Public Administrator Wendy Metcalf is doing and kept her in office. Metcalf collected 3,914 votes, compared to the 2932 of her opponent, Sharon Walles. "I admire Wendy and the job she does and wish her well," said Walles.

But the race for Southern Commissioner could be decided by just 20 votes. According to the unofficial results, incumbent Jerry Dodd took 1,907 votes, to the 1887 cast for challenger Hank Smythe. It was unclear at press time if Smythe would ask for a recount. Dodd said "I look forward to serving the residents and visitors of southern Stone County and look forward to another four years to do so." Smythe said he was disappointed, but would do whatever he could to better the county.

In addition, Mark Maples, a newcomer to the political arena, handily defeated his challengers to win the primary for Northern Commissioner. Maples will now take on Jim Huy (I), who was appointed Northern Commissioner by Governor Jay Nixon, in the November general election.

Maples garnered 1,307 votes for the win. Robert Stone took 833, Larry Scobee received 717 and Tim Stowe 682. "I want to say thank you," said Maples. "I was wondering today if I had done enough. Please remember that I need your vote again in November."

I wish Mark Maples all the best and will support him in any way I can. Ultimately, I'm very grateful to the Lord for his inspiration, love and grace. I'd like to thank my wife and children for their faithful support," said Stone.

Voters also returned Rick Kemp to the office of County Surveyor. Kemp gathered 2,510 votes. His opponents, John Read and Eddie D. Wolfe garnered 2,428 and 1,713, respectively.

Stone County Clerk Judy Berkstresser said nearly 37 percent of registered voters went to the polls. One precinct in Crane ran out of paper ballots and had to revert to using an electronic touch screen, according to Berkstresser. Additional ballots were taken to the Lincoln precinct in Elsey and one in Kimberling City.

Galena Man Facing Rape Charge In Arkansas:

-

William Edward Stacy (mug shot CCSO)

A man from Galena is facing rape charges in Carroll County, Arkansas in connection to an alleged inappropriate relationship he had with a 13 year-old girl.

Authorities say the relationship between the teen and William Edward Stacy, 39, came to light after the girl's father felt Stacy, who was a family friend, was spending too much time with the teen and read her journal. The girl admitted to a relationship with Stacy after her father confronted her.

Court records say Stacy allegedly attempted suicide the day the relationship was uncovered. A relative of Stacy's told authorities, "He would rather kill himself than to go to jail for something he did not do," the warrant states.

Stacy is being held on $100,000 bond and is scheduled to be arraigned in Carroll County on August 13th.