Poplar Bluff man pleads guilty to murder in Bollinger County attack

A Poplar Bluff, Missouri, man, with his jury trial looming, pleaded guilty to several felonies, including murder, in connection with a 2015 attack at a Bollinger County home.

William Anthony Pickard pleaded guilty to the Class A felonies of second-degree murder and first-degree assault and the unclassified felony of armed criminal action before Circuit Judge Benjamin Lewis, according to docket entries on Casenet.

The 34-year-old entered his plea Thursday after the state filed amended charges in Bollinger County, Missouri, Circuit Court.

Authorities said Pickard killed Joshua A. Sharar on Aug. 28, 2015, by shooting him with a .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol and stabbing him.

The amended charges stated Pickard also shot and stabbed Vickie M. Williams several times, and such conduct was a “substantial step” toward attempting to kill her and caused her serious physical injury.

Pickard was supposed to stand trial later this month on charges of first-degree murder, first-degree assault, armed criminal action and the Class C felony of first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle.

After accepting Pickard’s plea, Lewis set sentencing for Aug. 3.

The Bollinger County Sheriff’s Department was contacted by a neighbor who reported hearing gunshots at the trailer where Williams and Sharar lived together on Highway 51, north of Marble Hill, Missouri, at 9:55 p.m. Aug. 28, 2015.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Della Moore said in her probable-cause statement Williams and Sharar had been stabbed and shot several times. They were taken to Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, where Sharar, 31, died.

The suspect, identified as Pickard, fled in Sharar’s Chevrolet truck. Moore said the truck later was spotted in Puxico, Missouri, and a pursuit ensued. The suspect subsequently stopped and ran from the vehicle. He was arrested in a roadside drainage ditch near the truck, Moore said.

Moore wrote Pickard later told officers he had been “seeing Williams romantically since his release from prison in July (2015).”

Pickard said he moved in with Williams, who was living with Sharar, Moore wrote.

Pickard also told officers the romance between he and Williams continued, but “the sexual encounters” became fewer, Moore wrote.

According to Moore, Pickard said “he thought he was being mistreated and began to have premeditated thoughts of killing Williams.”

Moore wrote Pickard confessed to the crimes.