Man found guilty of murdering his neighbor

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A Prathersville man was convicted Friday of first-degree murder in the May 2, 2005, death of his 77-year-old next-door neighbor.

A Boone County jury took about four hours to find Dearl Jackson, 49, guilty of beating and strangling Zelpha Turner, who had asked Jackson to fix her roof.

The jury's deliberations were interrupted by a bomb scare that required evacuating the Boone County Courthouse. Jurors were moved to a hotel while law enforcement searched the courthouse, finding no explosives.

Jackson, clad in a white shirt and khaki pants, showed little emotion as the verdict was read. Sentencing was scheduled for Sept. 25, when Jackson will face life without parole.

His defense attorney, public defender Kevin O'Brien, called the verdict a "travesty" and said he will appeal.

Prosecutors spent this week building a case against Jackson based on a set of bloody footprints found on a scrap of paper under Turner's body that matched Jackson's tennis shoes. Crime scene technicians were able to use chemicals to trace a trail of bloody footprints from Turner's house to Jackson's duplex.

Investigators also found a pair of jeans found in Jackson's home with blood that matched Turner's, as well as items from Turner's home scattered in the woods behind his house.

O'Brien spent his share of the four-day trial trying to place the blame on Turner's granddaughter, Holli McKenzie, who found her body.

He said McKenzie killed her grandmother and then grabbed Jackson's shoes off his front steps and used them to frame him for the murder.

After the verdict, McKenzie said she could begin grieving for her grandmother.

"When they read that verdict, I think it might have finally given Grandma peace and me peace, too," she said. "I'm going to go home and hold my babies, watch a movie and maybe finally get some sleep."

Assistant Prosecutor Dan Knight said he felt he was not only prosecuting Jackson but creating a defense for McKenzie.

"I had to act as her defense because they were attacking her so vigorously," he said after the verdict.