SCOTT AND NEW MADRID COUNTIES FORMING MAJOR CASE SQUAD

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Law enforcement officers in Scott and New Madrid counties are joining forces to create a major case squad.

The idea of combining top investigators from the two counties' sheriffs' departments and Sikeston police comes after the bodies of three Sikeston residents believed to be homicide victims were discovered in the past six months.

"I think the climate for this is right now and everybody is communicating better," said Drew Juden, director of the Sikeston Department of Public Safety.

Discussions about forming a major case squad have been ongoing for years among several counties, said Bill Ferrell, Scott County sheriff. But conditions to get Mississippi, New Madrid and Cape Girardeau counties to join in some combination with Scott County could not be worked out in the past, the sheriff said.

Cape Girardeau County formed its own major case squad in 1983. It was later expanded to include Bollinger County and the Department of Public Safety at Southeast Missouri State University.

Three suspicious deaths have been under investigation jointly by the three law enforcement agencies, along with the Missouri State Highway Patrol, for the past three weeks.

Two of Sikeston's eight detectives have been committed to work solely on the three homicides, but Juden said more would be added if deemed necessary.

"The more well-trained officers you can throw at a case from the beginning, the quicker it'll be solved," he said.

Most of the details of how the squad will operate remain to be worked out, Juden said. The group is looking at organizational examples from major case squads throughout the state.