Region briefs 11/17/2015

Missing woman may be in danger

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Police have issued an endangered-person advisory for a Poplar Bluff woman taken from her home Monday. The Poplar Bluff Police Department is seeking the public's help in finding Heather M. Turner, 33. According to the advisory, Turner apparently was taken by force from the bedroom of her home at 621 Cleveland St. Suspected in the incident is 44-year-old Doyle W. Turner. He is described as a white male, 5 feet, 9 inches tall and 185 pounds with brown hair and hazel eyes. Anyone with information is asked to call the nearest law-enforcement agency or the Poplar Bluff Police Department at (573) 785-5776.

Poplar Bluff man faces murder charge

A Poplar Bluff, Missouri, man accused of shooting his former brother-in-law on the parking lot of a local mental-health facility during an ongoing domestic dispute faces a second-degree murder charge. Butler County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Oesterreicher filed an amended complaint with the court Friday in the case of Eddie Joseph Skorcz, charging the 58-year-old with felony second-degree murder and armed criminal action. Skorcz, of the 900 block of County Road 608, is accused of causing serious physical injury to Mitchell Dugger that resulted in his death. Dugger, 52, of Brosley, Missouri, died Oct. 27 at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau after his family removed him from life support. Dugger had been a patient in Saint Francis' intensive care unit since he was flown there after being shot at least twice on his left side, in his leg and shoulder areas, Oct. 14. Dugger allegedly was shot by Skorcz during what authorities described as an ongoing domestic dispute among family members that escalated in the parking lot area of Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center Behavioral Health.

Violations found in crop dusting

WAPPAPELLO, Mo. -- The Missouri Department of Agriculture will issue civil penalties for pesticide drift after an investigation of crop-dusting incidents last spring that allegedly sickened three people and damaged a portion of Mark Twain National Forest. Aerial Farm Service of Portageville and Southeast Cooperative of Puxico, Missouri, were found to have violated state regulations and face penalties ranging from a warning letter to fines to a license suspension. The exact penalty for each company was not decided by Friday. The report also provides new information on three complaints filed with the agency in the spring -- one by the Missouri National Guard after two groundskeepers fell ill, one by an individual allegedly sprayed while on his property and another by the U.S. Forest Service.

-- From staff reports