Carter County, Mo., sheriff's fatal wound ruled self-inflicted

VAN BUREN, Mo. — After hearing from various law enforcement personnel, six Carter County residents unanimously ruled the gunshot that killed Carter County Sheriff Greg Melton was self-inflicted.

Carter County Coroner Dennis McSpadden held an inquest Tuesday morning into Melton's death. Melton was found dead in his garage from a gunshot wound at about 8:15 p.m. Oct. 16.

A subsequent autopsy was performed by Dr. Michael Zaricor at Mineral Area Regional Medical Center in Farmington, Mo.

The autopsy "confirmed the contact wound was under his chin, with the bullet exiting through the top of his head," McSpadden said earlier. One shell, he said, had been expended from Melton's .357 magnum revolver.

Zaricor's autopsy report has not been completed yet, said McSpadden, who told the jurors of that before the inquest began. It is expected to be another couple of weeks before the report is done, he said.

Before beginning their deliberations and reaching a verdict, the six jurors heard testimony from interim sheriff Ted Reynolds and the Missouri State Highway Patrol investigators who were on the scene, McSpadden said.

"They had a timeline they went through and discussed the scene, the garage, where the body was located," he said.

The inquest, which lasted about an hour, is standard procedure, McSpadden said. "We just sometimes don't do it," he said.

Since the victim was a law enforcement officer and there were multiple jurisdictions involved in the investigation, "we wanted to make sure we covered all the bases," said McSpadden.

With rumors running rampant since Melton's death, McSpadden said, he wanted six jurors, "not related to the case, look at the information, and [they] came up unanimously that this was a self-inflicted gunshot wound."

At the time of his death, Melton was seeking re-election to his third term in the Nov. 4 general election. A Grandin Democrat, the 47-year-old had served as sheriff for nearly eight years.

The Carter County Commission named Reynolds, who had served as Melton's chief deputy, as interim sheriff until Dec. 31.