Crime News

A St. Louis man was arrested Wednesday and charged with unlawful use of a weapon in connection with an alleged road rage incident in the northbound lanes of Interstate 55 in Perry County south of Perryville, Missouri. Nathaniel Roberson, 20, was taken into custody and was being held at the Perry County Jail as of Thursday morning on the weapons charge and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia...

Cape Girardeau County government will spend about $3.5 million to renovate and replace the plumbing and electrical systems, and install a new heating and cooling system in the county jail. Commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to proceed with the project...

Prosecutors called it murder. Ronald Clark called it self-defense. Now new evidence supports Clark’s claim and gives him hope the Missouri Supreme Court may free him after decades of incarceration. Clark has spent most of his adult life in jail, convicted of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Alvin Ray Spence outside a Charleston, Missouri, community center. The shooting occurred on the evening of Nov. 8, 1994, 25 years ago today...

Ronald Clark never figured he would be charged with murder, much less convicted. After all, he had witnesses. But many of them never spoke up. “A lot of people, they didn’t want to get in between the two families. They stayed silent,” he said during a phone interview with the Southeast Missourian from the prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri, where he is serving a life sentence...

A Doniphan, Missouri, man was sentenced to 64 months in prison on a felony firearm conviction Wednesday, according to the United States Attorney’s Office. Terrance Malkowski, 28, was convicted on one count of felony possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri's process for certifying juveniles as adults is unconstitutional and discriminates against African Americans, a public defender for a black 16-year-old boy told Missouri Supreme Court judges Wednesday. Public defender Tim Honse said the minor, identified only as D.E.G. in court documents, was 15 at the time of the alleged offense and 16 when he was certified as an adult...

CLAYTON, Mo. -- A pattern of improper analysis in the St. Louis County Police Department's crime lab by a forensic scientist has led to a review of at least 100 criminal cases involving DNA evidence, the county prosecutor's office said. Sam Alton, chief of staff for St. ...

At approximately 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning after the end of daylight saving time, an adult male with an injury to his scalp was transported from a family member’s house in the 1700 block of Pemiscot Street to a local hospital, according to Sgt. Joey Hann of the Cape Girardeau Police Department...

Cape Girardeau police identified a Friday shooting victim as Torie M. Williams, 34, of St. Louis. Williams was killed early Friday morning in the 2800 block of Whitener Street. A second gunshot victim was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening wounds...

A Cape Girardeau man was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison following his conviction earlier this year on two counts of felony possession of firearms by a convicted felon. Barrett Swan, 35, was found guilty July 9 after a jury trial in U.S. District Court...

There’s no shortage of scams, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt warned residents of the Chateau Girardeau retirement community during a visit Thursday to Cape Girardeau. Scam artists seek to steal people’s money via telephone, internet, mail and door-to-door activities, he said...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Missouri cattle rancher charged Wednesday with two counts of first-degree murder shot two brothers from Wisconsin, burned their bodies and dumped the remains on a manure pile on his property, investigators said. Garland Nelson, 25, of Braymer is also charged with two counts of abandonment of a corpse, two counts of tampering with physical evidence in felony prosecution, two counts of armed criminal action, tampering with a motor vehicle and unlawful possession of a firearm, according to documents filed in Caldwell County, Missouri.. ...

NAPLES, Fla. -- A Missouri man has been convicted of participating in the slaying of a Florida doctor. Prosecutors say the killing was arranged by the doctor's husband. The Naples Daily News reported 29-year-old Jimmy Ray Rodgers was convicted Wednesday of second-degree murder. He faces up to life in prison. Sentencing is Nov. 18. Prosecutors had sought a first-degree murder conviction and the death penalty...

A Perryville, Missouri, man was charged with careless and imprudent driving after his Toyota pickup truck struck the rear of a Cape Girardeau police car and overturned Thursday on Interstate 55. The charge was filed against Corey Robinson, 39, who received “very minor cuts” after his southbound vehicle “rolled over,” Cape Girardeau police Sgt. Joey Hann said...

Cape Girardeau police responded to a report of a disturbance and shots fired early Sunday at Broadway and Ellis Street. The incident was reported at 1:25 a.m. In a text message to the Southeast Missourian, police Sgt. Joey Hann said a crowd dispersed and officers checked the area...

Jackson police are investigating a Tuesday night incident in which a post on a social media account indicated a potential firearms threat at Jackson High School. According to Jackson schools public information officer Merideth Pobst, a post appeared Tuesday evening on the social media platform Snapchat. The post, she said, gave the impression an act of “gun violence” was imminent at the school...

The State of Missouri executed Russell Bucklew on Tuesday, 23 years after violent episodes left a man dead. Bucklew was declared dead at 6:23 p.m. at Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, after authorities administered a lethal dose of pentobarbital. ...

A Cape Girardeau man has been arrested and charged in connection with several controlled substances discovered inside his vehicle, including methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine. Jimmy Dewayne Reed Jr., 37, was arrested on three counts of delivery of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute, according to a news release from the Cape Girardeau Police Department...

A Cape Girardeau man has been sentenced to nine years in prison after he stole a dog and stabbed it 11 times, killing the animal. Andrew Nipper pleaded guilty to the crime earlier this month after the case was transferred to Perry County Circuit Court on a change of venue...

ST. LOUIS — Attorneys for a Missouri death row inmate with a rare medical condition say the tracheostomy tube he relies on to breathe increases the risk of a “grotesque execution process” if he is put to death as scheduled Oct. 1. Clemency from Gov. Mike Parson may be the last hope for 51-year-old convicted killer Russell Bucklew. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in April the execution could proceed, and Bucklew’s attorneys haven’t decided whether there is any merit in a state court appeal...

Federal, state and Scott County law enforcement officers dug for evidence Monday in the 40-year-old disappearance of Cheryl Ann Scherer, but turned up nothing. It was another dead end in a cold case that has baffled law enforcement and left Scherer’s family struggling to find closure. ...

The body of a Tamms, Illinois, man has been recovered from the Mississippi River in Tennessee, Illinois State Police said Tuesday in a news release. Larry L. McNelly of rural Tamms had been missing since a fire was set at his home Sept. 10, police said...

A Union County jury has convicted a Randolph County man of first-degree murder and aggravated battery in the 2018 death of a Murphysboro, Illinois, man. William P. Wasmund, 48, of Chester, Illinois, was convicted Thursday following a four-day trial in the killing of Jeffery A. Spicer, 53, whose body was found in rural Union County on Sept. 16, 2018...

CLAYTON, Mo. -- Police leaders in St. Louis County are considering hiring officers without previous police or military experience as it becomes harder to fill openings. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported chief Jon Belmar told the Police Board of Commissioners it is "broadening" opportunities, "not lowering" standards...

A Bollinger County volunteer firefighter faces charges of rape, sodomy, child molestation and incest stemming from incidents this year and last. Ronald Braden, 45, of Zalma, Missouri, was arrested earlier this summer. His wife, Trishcia Braden, faces a felony charge of tampering with physical evidence in connection with the case...