Sheriff cites evidence of 'hatred' in killings

CARTHAGE, Mo. -- The weekend killings of a southwest Missouri couple in their rural Carthage home stunned their many friends, including a sheriff who said the manner of their deaths bore signs of "hatred."

Robert Sheldon, 70, and his wife, Ellen, 71, were reported dead by a son who went to their home Sunday morning when they failed to attend services at Carthage's Fairview Christian Church. The couple's dog was also killed.

The son told authorities he believed his mother had been shot.

But Jasper County Sheriff Archie Dunn -- whose department Robert Sheldon had served for 25 years as a reserve officer -- declined Tuesday to say how the couple was killed. Dunn said there was no known motive and no immediate suspects. He declined to release other details, although he clarified that he does not believe the slayings were a hate crime, just an example of "someone just really hating someone."

At a news conference Monday, Dunn had said the crime scene entailed certain "elements" not usually come across in local murders that he believed reflected a degree of "hatred" toward the victims.

"It will all make sense to you later when you learn how these people died," Dunn said.

The Sheldons operated a gun and archery business known as the Old Cabin Shop on their property. The shop's building had been used as the county's first courthouse in 1841.

"Bob was kind of a slow, easygoing guy," Dunn said Monday. "Everybody liked him."

Dunn has declined to say if either the home or the gun shop on the property showed signs of a break-in.

"The gun shop's got hundreds of weapons in there," Dunn said. "We don't know what may be missing at this time."

An avid outdoorsman well-known among hunters and fishermen, Robert Sheldon also had an interest in history.

Steve Weldon, Jasper county archivist, bought a black-powder gun from Robert Sheldon. He noted that Sheldon was involved in hunter-safety classes for many years.

"He was a great person, a wonderful guy," Weldon said. "He was a gun collector, but he enjoyed historic firearms. He wasn't a gun collector as much as he was a person who collected guns for historical purposes. He had a strong background in that.

"He had a real appreciation of history. That's why I liked him. We once did a re-enactment of the first county court in the old county court there."

The Sheldons' house is connected with the oldest surviving structure in Jasper County, the Hornback Cabin, which dates to before 1841. The first county court was staged in the cabin. The Old Cabin Shop, which Sheldon owned, is across a drive from the Hornback Cabin and the house.

Authorities said the Sheldons attended a church event Saturday evening.

They went home sometime between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m., and investigators believe they were still alive and well at that time based on information that someone had talked to them by telephone after they got home, Dunn said.