Four charged in Ripley County murder case

DONIPHAN, Mo. -- Four people are charged with murder in connection to the deaths of Edgar Atkinson, 81, and Bonnie Chase, 69, whose bodies were found in a burning Ripley County home on July 10.

Arrested were David Youngblood, 46, his wife, Melissa Mae Youngblood, their daughter, Chantale Youngblood, 17, and Keith Boyles, 18, all of Ripley County, the Daily American Republic newspaper reported.

Each of them is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree arson, two counts of armed criminal action and first-degree burglary.

All four suspects were arrested Friday afternoon and evening.

Their arrests came after the Ripley County Sheriff's Department received a call from a concerned person who thought he might have some information about the crime. The sheriff's department contacted the individual and he turned over the evidence.

Based on that information, the arrests were made.

Due to the nature of this case, Ripley County Sheriff Ron Barnett has reopened the investigation into the deaths of Loyd Eugene Piatt, 77, and his 80-year-old wife, Gladys Irene Piatt.

The Piatts died in a late night fire on June 23. The cause of that fire is still under investigation.

However, law enforcement officials plan to exhume the bodies of the Piatts and have autopsies performed. David Youngblood is the Piatt's nephew.

During the initial investigation after the 11:38 p.m. June 23 fire, investigators found nothing that led them to believe foul play was involved in the Piatts' death.

However, at the more recent fire at Current View, the victims died under suspicious circumstances.

An autopsy revealed that Atkinson had died of a gunshot wound to the head and another gunshot wound to the upper torso. Thus far, a cause of death has not been determine for Chase.

Once it was determined murder was involved, investigators went back to the crime scene and began sifting through the rubble.

Some information for this article was supplied by Katie Plumb, a reporter with the Doniphan Prospect-News.