Man charged with killing 3 people, unborn child

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Missouri man used the light from a headlamp he was wearing to see and methodically shoot and kill a pregnant woman and two other people in a mobile home, authorities alleged Tuesday in charging him with four counts of first-degree murder.

Brian D. Williams waived arraignment and pleaded not guilty to the slayings that happened Friday near Ozark in southwestern Missouri.

Williams, who was ordered jailed without bond, is charged in the shooting deaths of 27-year-old James Marsh; Marsh's 26-year-old girlfriend, Casey Maples; and 40-year-old Christina Winden.

He's also accused of killing Maples' unborn child, which a pathologist said was 7 or 8 weeks old.

A public defender assigned to represent Williams declined comment Tuesday. Christian County Prosecutor Amy Fite also would not discuss the case.

Authorities have not revealed a motive for the killings or Williams' possible connection to the victims, but Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Daniel Nash said in a probable-cause statement Williams once lived at the mobile home and went there the morning of the slayings in a pickup truck he stole the previous day.

Christian County Sheriff Joey Kyle has said a fourth person who lived at the mobile home found the bodies hours later after returning from work.