ROAD CLOSINGS, DELAYS LISTED

Beginning today the Southeast Missourian will inform readers of daily road closings and delays caused by construction. Included are closings and delays anticipated in the days ahead.

The list appears under the heading "Road construction" on Page 2A.

TEEN-AGER AWAITS TRIAL IN KILLING

Deadline: TEEN-AGER AWAITS TRIAL IN KILLING

JACKSON, Mo. -- A 16-year-old boy charged in the shooting death of his grandmother was returned to the Cape Girardeau County Jail Wednesday after an extensive mental examination to await trial for first-degree murder, the county prosecutor said.

Joshua Wolf had been sent to the Guhleman Forensic Center at Fulton State Hospital at the end of June to go through a thorough battery of mental health examinations, Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said.

Swingle would not comment on the results of the examinations but said he was sending a letter to Circuit Judge Gary Kamp on Wednesday to request a preliminary hearing for Wolf.

The examinations were to determine whether Wolf is mentally fit to assist in his own defense and whether he understood the nature of his actions at the time of the crime, Swingle said.

Wolf had confessed to shooting his grandmother, Carol Lindley, in early May and then attempting to burn up her body and the house where they had lived for only a few weeks, court documents state.

Lindley had moved to Cape Girardeau from Columbus, Ohio, in April and lived with her grandson at 175 Paiute Lane, just off of Route W.

In June Wolf was moved from juvenile jurisdiction into state circuit court after Judge Scott Thomsen certified him as an adult to face charges of first-degree murder, second-degree arson and armed criminal action.

Wolf's attorney, Jeffrey Dix of Cape Girardeau, was not available for comment Wednesday.

Wolf is being kept on suicide watch at the jail as a precautionary measure, Sheriff John Jordan said. "He has not tried or done anything," Jordan said.

Wolf is being held in a 10-by-10-foot, open-bar cell directly in front of the jail supervisor's position, Jordan said. He is only separated from the jailer by a few feet between the bars of his cell and the supervisor's desk.

Inmates who have undergone mental health examinations are routinely kept in the cell for a period of time, the sheriff said. Prisoners are removed from suicide watch if their demeanor demonstrates they are not a threat to themselves or others, he said.