MAN PLEADS INNOCENT TO SLAYING IN PERRYVILLE

PERRYVILLE -- Three killings in three months are keeping Perry County's prosecutor busy, but he said the work is nothing he can't handle.

"It's been a burden to the prosecutor's office," said Thomas Hoeh, county prosecutor. "But that's what I'm elected to do."

One of the suspects, a Perryville man accused of shooting a man to death before a drug deal, pleaded innocent to murder Friday, Hoeh said.

Russell A. Cline, 39, is charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in connection with the Feb. 8 killing.

In a preliminary hearing on March 28, two witnesses had testified that Cline killed William H. Dial at Dial's residence. The witnesses said Cline had borrowed a revolver and minutes later came to Dial's house and shot him in the chest.

But Dial's slaying has been overshadowed in the minds of Perryville residents by the stabbing deaths of Eddie Sauer, 84, and Leona Sauer, 83, on April 7.

"It has left the community shocked," Hoeh said. "This was a much different circumstance than with Dial. With the Sauers you had an elderly couple that was widely known and generally loved."

The Sauers had owned and operated the Intersection Motel and restaurant in Perryville since 1946.

Police Detective Keith Tarrillion recalled going to school with the Sauers' children.

Samuel D. Lowe, 38, has been charged with the two murders. His bail was raised from $500,000 to $1 million this week, and Hoeh said he would seek the death penalty.

"If ever there was a case for the death penalty, this is it," Hoeh said.

The venue for Lowe's trial was moved to Cape Girardeau County. An attorney for Lowe, of St. Louis, will be selected from the state public defender's office in Jefferson City, Hoeh said. Public defenders from Jefferson City handle cases involving capital punishment.

This will be Hoeh's first death penalty case since 1994, when Lawrence Coppaway was found guilty in the stabbing death of his girlfriend. A Cape Girardeau jury declined the death penalty for Coppaway, sentencing him to life in prison.

"My job is to convince the jury that the death penalty is justified," Hoeh said. "Ultimately, it's up to the jury to speak for the community."