57-year-old man charged in 2 Missouri killings

SLATER, Mo. — A man has been charged with killing his daughter’s estranged husband and his former mother-in-law.

Fifty-seven-year-old Donald Bruce Owens of Marshall was charged Monday with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 35-year-old Ryan Sanders and 83-year-old Bonnie Charlene Hupp. Owens is jailed without bond in Saline County. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.

Officers found Sanders fatally wounded around 1:40 a.m. Thursday in front of his home in Slater. Almost seven hours later, authorities were notified Hupp had been found dead in a nearby residence.

A probable-cause statement said Owens admitted to shooting both victims. He said Hupp was responsible for his divorce and he killed Sanders to “protect a family member involved in legal proceedings against Sanders.”

Pertinent address:

Slater, Mo.