Crime News

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...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. — Tow-truck operator Jeffery Scott “Scotty” Robins was fatally shot in the head while asleep in his rural Bollinger County home. Seven years later, there still have been no arrests. Bollinger County Coroner Charles Hutchings remains frustrated by the fact no one has been charged in a case he contends is ”very solvable.” ...

The body of Jeffery Scott “Scotty” Robins was discovered by his children when they returned home from school Sept. 6, 2012. He had been shot in the head while sleeping. The single shot came from a .22-caliber gun. Bollinger County Coroner Charles Hutchings said he doesn’t know whether the shot came from a handgun or a rifle. The murder weapon has not been found...

A 41-year-old wrong-way driver has been charged with manslaughter after his passenger died after apparently jumping from a Ford pickup truck last week on Interstate 55 and breaking his neck. Myron Lee Tillman of Columbia, Missouri, was charged Wednesday in Scott County Circuit Court with first-degree involuntary manslaughter, first-degree assault, leaving the scene of a fatal accident, driving with a revoked license, operating a motor vehicle in a careless and imprudent manner, and armed criminal action through the use of the pickup truck as a “dangerous instrument.”. ...

An apparently disgruntled Spectrum customer broke a glass vial containing an irritant at the cable service office Tuesday in Cape Girardeau, police said. The man then fled in a vehicle, police Sgt. Joey Hann said. Hann said late Tuesday afternoon police had a person in custody, but his name was not being released until formal charges came from the prosecutor...

SIKESTON -- James McMillen has been named the director of Sikeston Department of Public Safety. The announcement came in a release from Sikeston city manager Jonathan Douglass on Friday afternoon. "Director McMillen is an outstanding law enforcement officer and leader," Douglass said. "The City of Sikeston appreciates his dedication to Sikeston and the Department of Public Safety, and we look forward to his success."...

Myron Lee Tillman, 41, of Lilbourn, Missouri was arrested early Friday morning after involving police in a 20-mile chase Thursday afternoon in his underwear, traveling north in the southbound lanes of Interstate 55, according to a release from the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office...

Cape Girardeau Central High School sophomore Madison Robinson had hopes of one day becoming a paramedic. But that dream was shattered Saturday night. Robinson, 15, was shot and killed on her front porch at 913 Jefferson Ave, at about 10:15 p.m. She and a second shooting victim were taken by ambulance to local hospitals. Robinson died as a result of her wound...

An altercation earlier in the day led to the death of a Cape Girardeau teenager Saturday night, according to a document filed by police. Cape Girardeau police arrested Isaiah M. Lane, 29, in connection with the shooting that killed 15-year-old Madison Robinson on the front porch of her home at 913 Jefferson Ave. The shooting, which occurred at about 10:15 p.m. Saturday, also wounded a 20-year-old man who was with Robinson on the porch...

Isaiah M. Lane, the man accused of killing 15-year-old Madison Robinson on her front porch Saturday night, was her age when he and an accomplice robbed a Cape Girardeau restaurant 14 years ago. According to Southeast Missourian files, Lane was 15 when he and Semaj Lumas, then 16, robbed the KFC restaurant, 2101 William St., at gunpoint July 21, 2005, netting approximately $2,200...

JONESBORO, Ill. — A judge on Friday postponed a resentencing hearing for convicted murderer Mark Gibbs for 90 days to allow the defense an opportunity to engage a “mitigation” expert. Such an expert looks at the offender’s background and any mitigating circumstances surrounding the crime that could justify a lesser sentence ...

VAN BUREN, Mo. — Authorities say a man suspected of shooting and wounding two law enforcement officers has surrendered after a seven-hour standoff in southern Missouri. The Missouri State Highway Patrol announced around 5 p.m. Friday in a Tweet the standoff had ended...

Cape Girardeau police are asking for the public’s assistance in finding a man wanted on a warrant for child molestation. Jeremiah Ramone Twiggs, 36, of Cape Girardeau is wanted on an active warrant for molestation of a minor and resisting arrest for a felony...

Mark Gibbs has spent more than 26 years behind bars for killing his parents in their Southern Illinois home in 1992. He was sentenced to life in prison. But at age 44, Gibbs could end up with a lesser sentence because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that mandatory life sentences for juveniles without the possibility of parole are unconstitutional...

Scott City has purchased its first police dog from a Springfield, Missouri, kennel rather than accept an older canine being offered by the Scott County Sheriff’s Department. “Everybody is very excited,” police chief Mike Culler said Monday. As late as mid-July, the Scott City Council considered accepting an offer from Scott County Sheriff Wes Drury for that department’s dog...

Saturday’s “Tay Day” vigil held in memory of Cape Girardeau homicide victims Detavian L. Richardson and Zatrun R. Twiggs at Capaha Park served as an unsettling reminder of the prevalence of gun violence. The event also recognized the recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio...

A 48-year-old Cape Girardeau man has been arrested on charges of child molestation and statutory rape, police said in a new release Tuesday. Ted J. Skinner is accused of molesting and raping a 16-year-old girl. According to a probable-cause statement, the victim said Skinner molested her June 25 and raped her July 1. She told police the incidents occurred in Skinner’s vehicle in the parking lot of the Independence Street apartment complex where he lived...

A Bollinger County man has been sentenced to 38 years in prison for sodomy, rape and molestation of a minor. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced the sentencing of Daniel Martin, 30, of Glen Allen, Missouri, on Wednesday in a news release...

A Cape Girardeau resident shot and wounded a male juvenile who was attempting to steal his SUV in the 400 block of South Minnesota Street near Jefferson Elementary School on Monday night. Cape Girardeau police subsequently took the suspect into custody. Police Sgt. Joey Hann said Tuesday the suspect is from Cape Girardeau, but he declined to give the age of the suspect because “the case is still active.” ...

Zaxby’s restaurant, in the 400 block of Cape West Crossing on Cape Girardeau’s west side, was robbed at 8:35 a.m. Tuesday, police said. “It was reported that a suspect wearing a black nylon jacket, dark pants, gloves and black and white mask took an undetermined amount of money ... by force,” police said in a news release...

BENTON, Mo. -- A Scott County jury returned a guilty verdict Tuesday in a murder case involving once-missing evidence. The jury, at the conclusion of a two-day trial, found Sikeston, Missouri, resident Antoine Harris, also known as Harris-Applewhite, guilty of second-degree murder, armed criminal action, unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm as a previously convicted felon...