Authorities charge 17-year-old in Patton shooting

The Bollinger County Sheriff's Department filed murder and armed criminal action charges this afternoon in connection with Tuesday's fatal shooting in Patton, Mo.

John Wayne Wilfong, 17, of Patton, was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action, according to the Missouri courts' website Case.net. Wilfong is scheduled to be arraigned in a Bollinger County court on Jan. 7.

Earlier today authorities released the name of the shooting victim.

Pamela L. Ackman, 48, was discovered by her husband, Mickey D. Ackman, around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in their residence off Highway 51 in Patton, just south of Highway 72.

Pamela Ackman

An autopsy performed this morning in Farmington, Mo., confirmed that Ackman suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the head with a 22-caliber firearm, said Bollinger County Coroner Charles Hutchings.

The murder weapon appears to have been a rifle, Bollinger County Sheriff Leo McElrath said.

Deputies arrested Wilfong, 17, of Patton, this morning on suspicion first degree murder in Ackman's death, McElrath said.

Wilfong, a ward of the Ackmans, and a 9-year-old male, were at home with Pam Ackman yesterday but disappeared by the time her body was discovered.

They took Pam Ackman's gold Yukon SUV, and were located this morning at the Marble Hill residence of a family friend who contacted police when they learned about the murder on the news.

Wilfong, who allegedly confessed to the murder this morning, will not be charged with kidnapping because the child went with him willingly, McElrath said.

The Ackmans applied for guardianship of Wilfong in 2003, under protest by his natural mother.

In 2002, Wilfong's father, Henry J. Wilfong, was charged with first degree murder in Wayne County, Mo., and is currently held at Fulton State Hospital after the court found him mentally incapable of standing trial.

Ackman's funeral will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Liley Funeral Home in Patton.

For more information, check back at semissourian.com or read Friday's Southeast Missourian.