Miner murder suspect committed to mental-health facility

On Monday, the Scott County prosecuting attorney’s office and Missouri public defender’s office approved an order to have a Miner, Missouri, man charged with first-degree murder committed to the Missouri Department of Mental Health.

Judge Benjamin Lewis signed an order for a mental examination for Thomas Wayne McRoy on July 11. A psychiatrist or psychologist found McRoy was incompetent to stand trial, assistant public defender Amy Commean said Monday in Jackson.

Commean and the prosecutor agreed to a hearing to re-evaluate the case in May, six months after McRoy was committed.

“He might be restored to competency,” Commean said.

McRoy was in custody in Scott County Jail, and Commean said she wanted to deliver the order to the Scott County Sheriff’s Department herself to ensure McRoy was transferred.

McRoy was granted a change of venue from Scott County to Cape Girardeau County on Feb. 1.

Scott County’s Prosecuting Attorney’s office charged McRoy with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action Nov. 17, 2015.

A Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper arrested McRoy on Route C in Carter County on Nov. 17, 2015, according to a probable-cause statement filed by trooper S.E. Rawson.

In an interview, McRoy admitted he shot his parents, Larry and Roxann McRoy, in the head with a .22-caliber rifle in their living room at 211 Harrison St. in Miner, Rawson wrote.

McRoy dumped his parents’ bodies into the Mississippi River, according to the statement. Larry McRoy’s body was recovered near Dorena Ferry in Mississippi County with a gunshot wound to the head, Rawson wrote.

McRoy had three .22-caliber shell casings in his pocket, and several firearms were recovered during a search of a white Chevrolet pickup truck and black Jeep, Rawson wrote.

Blood also was found on the driver’s-door panel and in the bed of the pickup, according to the statement.

Officers served a search warrant at 211 Harrison St. and found a large amount of blood, a bone fragment and a bullet fragment in the living room, Rawson wrote.

bkleine@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3644

Pertinent address: 211 Harrison St., Miner, MO