Lawsuit filed by wife of prosecutor killed by injected cocaine

OZARK, Mo. -- Two people charged with injecting the former Macon County prosecutor with a lethal cocaine overdose have been named in a wrongful death lawsuit by the victim's estranged wife.

The lawsuit, filed last month in Christian County Circuit Court, names another woman who had also been charged in the death of David Masters, 52. Prosecutors later dropped a murder charge against her in exchange for her cooperation.

The lawsuit by Ginger N. Masters names Thomas Naumann, 49, and Crystal Broyles, 28, both of Nixa, and Broyles' younger sister, Brandi Storment, 24, of Bolivar.

Naumann and Broyles are both charged with first-degree murder in Masters' death, and prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.

Masters' body was found March 3 near a bridge along the James River in northwest Christian County.

The charge against Storment was dropped in April.

Investigators have said that Masters, a father of seven, was confronted by housemates Broyles and Naumann in March because he allegedly was three weeks behind on rent and had made unwanted sexual advances toward Broyles.

Masters, who served as prosecutor from 1990 to 1998, was allegedly killed after telling Broyles and Naumann he wanted to die of a cocaine overdose instead of being shot. His body was found the next day, with what a pathologist said was more than 40 times a lethal dose in his system.

Storment said she wasn't there when Masters was killed, but told police she saw him tied to a chair.

Relatives of Masters said he surrounded himself with drug users after losing his elected post and private law practice and experiencing family problems.

Ginger Masters said she hopes to defray her husband's funeral expenses and gain financial support for three of the couple's children who are still minors. Her lawsuit also seeks punitive damages.