Routine call leads to brief manhunt

DEXTER, Mo. -- Police discovered a strange situation after answering a 911 call about an elderly woman in Dexter last week.

"The lady had home health services, and the nurse that arrived made the call," said Stoddard County Sheriff Carl Hefner, because the patient appeared to be overmedicated. "Dispatch was informed that the upstairs bedroom was occupied, but no one else was supposed to be living there."

Deputies and Stoddard County EMS personnel arrived at Westridge Apartments off Two Mile Road and found a man was in a bedroom upstairs. Officers went to the room and encountered a man and woman.

When asked for identification, the woman provided hers, but the man said he didn't have any on him at the time. He told officers the elderly woman downstairs was his mother and he was just staying with her for a little while, the sheriff said.

"We went back downstairs to check on the elderly lady, and the guy came down wearing shorts with a pair of jeans draped over his shoulder," Hefner said. "Then he looked in the room and asked, 'Are you OK, momma?'"

Hefner said the man exited the back door. Hefner asked the elderly woman whether the man was her son.

"She said he wasn't her son and that he just calls her 'momma' sometimes," Hefner said. "Then she said she didn't really know much about him and that he stays with her periodically."

Hefner said officers went back upstairs and asked the woman who the man was. She identified him as Travis Malone Stanley.

"It rang a bell with me instantly, because I had dealt with him in the past -- about 15 years ago." Hefner said. "We ran the information and found out he had some [outstanding] warrants."

The female guest informed the officers she had just met Stanley the previous night on Facebook.

Hefner said officers left the apartment and went to look for Stanley.

"We found him after a brief search," Hefner said. "He was hiding in the thickets behind the property. He never did run out or try to run away."

Stanley was taken into custody on warrants for nonsupport, probation violation and resisting a felony arrest.

Hefner said it does not appear Stanley has an established residence.

"It's important, if you're going to let someone stay with you, that you know their background," Hefner said. "You need to know exactly who they are and what they've done. It's just not safe to let someone stay with you if you don't know anything about them."

Pertinent address:

Dexter, Mo.