Fourth kidnapping suspect waives preliminary hearing

BENTON, Mo. -- The fourth suspect in what began as a kidnapping case appeared in court Wednesday on charges of second-degree assault and felonious restraint, waiving his right to a preliminary hearing.

Cody McRoy, 19, is accused of physically assaulting a Sikeston, Mo., man who claims he was kidnapped and held against his will.

According to a probable-cause affidavit filed in Scott County Circuit Court, Michael Fisher, 21, told police he was abducted at gunpoint from the front porch of his Sikeston home and taken to another house, where McRoy and three other suspects beat him for several hours before he convinced them to take him back home to get them some money.

In his initial statement to police, Fisher identified Andrew Robinett, Bryce Western and a Sikeston woman as his attackers. He amended his statement later to say McRoy also was involved in the beating, a Scott County deputy testified.

According to the affidavit, Fisher told investigators he did not name McRoy at first because he believed Robinett coerced McRoy into participating in the physical assault.

"I felt like he felt threatened, that if he didn't do something to me, he would get hurt," Fisher said last week during a preliminary hearing for the other three suspects.

Robinett, Western and Ashley Ivie initially faced felony charges of assault, kidnapping and felonious restraint. But after their Aug. 21 preliminary hearing, Judge Scott Horman dismissed all the charges against Ivie and all but the assault charges against Robinett and Western.

At that hearing, Fisher gave a convoluted, sometimes contradictory testimony, providing vague answers to several questions and seemed irritated by others.

McRoy is scheduled for arraignment at 9 a.m. Sept. 26.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

Sikeston, Mo.