Inmate's calls lead to probe, murder charge

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — A Williamsville, Missouri, man was charged Friday with first-degree murder after being accused of suffocating his 85-year-old bedridden father in September 2016 after a heated disagreement.

The motive was to receive a substantial inheritance of property his father allegedly had revoked, Butler County Sheriff Mark Dobbs said.

Kevin Eugene Hayes, 54, has been incarcerated for nearly three weeks on suspicion of three counts of first-degree property damage. Before his arrest Aug. 28, he had been released on bond for unrelated charges of first-degree burglary and third-degree assault.

While behind bars, Hayes implicated himself in the death of his father, Floyd Hayes, formerly of Broseley, Missouri. It was a recorded phone conversation with a bail bondsman Aug. 19 that led to an investigation.

“During screening of jail-inmate phone calls, Hayes made mention of a homicide,” Dobbs said. “After listening to the conversation, it was evident to me that the details surrounding his dad’s death on Sept. 4 were suspicious.”

According to the sheriff’s probable-cause statement, all phone calls contain a recorded message from the operator that notifies both parties they are being recorded.

“Furthermore, Hayes has indicated in other jail-phone conversations that he knows inmate conversations are recorded,” Dobbs stated.

During the conversation, Hayes requested that bondsman David Lundy “have firm conversations” with his wife, Amanda Hayes, to sway her to remove the order of protection restraining him from contacting her.

During the same conversation, he mentioned his father and the date Sept. 4, 2016. He said, “If (Amanda) wants to set behind bars for 30 ... years, she better think about it,” followed by, “I can do my time; can she do hers?”

Hayes went on to explain recent physical abuse he inflicted on his wife is because “she brings up my inheritance and my dad, and I told her don’t ever ... bring it up again, and it’s all in the past, and it’s gone; let’s move on with our lives. She did that, and that’s why I’m smacking the piss out of her,” according to the statement.

Dobbs said after putting it all together, investigators met with Amanda Hayes on Wednesday for questioning.

“She said (Floyd Hayes) died because (he and Kevin) had an argument about turning ownership of the family farm over to (Kevin),” Dobbs said. “The dad denied that request. He was bedridden at that point. So basically, Kevin Hayes decided to go in and put a pillow over his face and suffocate him.”

Amanda Hayes told investigators her husband stated “he had to hold the pillow harder than he thought he would have to” to kill his father.

The probable-cause statement stated Amanda Hayes said she knew Floyd Hayes was alive before her husband entered his bedroom.

She then said Kevin Hayes next instructed her to call Jim Sanders of White-Sanders Funeral Home. Sanders told investigators after he was contacted by telephone by Amanda Hayes, he went to the residence.

“He further states that Kevin Hayes was highly intoxicated. Sanders states that Floyd Hayes was observed laying in the bed of his bedroom and was obviously deceased,” according to the sheriff’s report.

Amanda Hayes said her husband did inherit the family farm after his father’s death and then sold it for more than $350,000.

A check of records in the Butler County Recorder of Deeds office confirmed that information, Dobbs said.

“It was all about the inheritance,” Dobbs said. “He knew the farm was in the will, and when the father died, it was his to inherit. But the father had denied the request. He didn’t want to relinquish control to Hayes, who has a drug and alcohol problem.”

Bond was set at $350,000 cash.