Wayne County police: Property dispute led to fatal shooting

GREENVILLE, Mo. -- An apparent dispute over property between two Piedmont, Mo., men escalated Monday evening, leaving one dead and his stepfather-in-law in jail charged with murder.

Samuel Jerry Lee Whitaker, 44, was charged with felony first-degree murder, felony armed criminal action and felony first-degree burglary by Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Ramshur.

Whitaker, who is being held without bond in the Wayne County Jail, is accused of killing his 41-year-old stepson-in-law, Carl Lee Streeval.

An autopsy performed Tuesday afternoon at Mineral Area Regional Medical Center in Farmington, Mo., by Dr. Russell Deidiker found Streeval's cause of death was a shotgun blast to the head and neck, said Wayne County Coroner Gary Umfleet.

According to earlier reports, authorities learned of the shooting at 6:20 p.m. when Streeval called the Wayne County Sheriff's Department reporting he had been shot at his home in the Lake Creek community, southeast of Patterson, Mo., off County Road 371.

Streeval "told the dispatcher that he had just been shot in the head by Sam Whitaker," according to Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Scott Rawson's probable cause statement.

Streeval, Rawson said, reported he was hiding in a bathroom of his residence, and Whitaker was trying to break in.

As Streeval remained on the phone, he said "Whitaker was trying to break into the bathroom and went on to tell the dispatcher that had lost a lot of blood and thought he was going to pass out," Rawson said.

The dispatcher, Rawson said, heard Streeval say: "'I've never missed a payment, man,' and then the telephone line went dead."

According to Wayne County Sheriff Dean Finch, the dispatcher was on the phone with Streeval for about a minute.

When officers with the Wayne County Sheriff's Department arrived fewer than 15 minutes later, they found Whitaker in the driveway.

"Whitaker made a statement to officers that Streeval was waving his [Whitaker's] dad's rings in his face, and he could not take it anymore," Rawson said. Whitaker, he said, refused to make any further statements.

During a search of the crime scene, Rawson said, officers found an expended 12-gauge shotgun shell laying at the rear of the residence. Officers followed a blood trail leading into a rear bathroom of the residence where they found Streeval's body on the floor lying in a pool of blood, Rawson said.

"The bathroom door had been broken from the hinges and was partially laying on the body," Rawson said. "A bloody palm print was visible on the inside of the door, as well as an interior wall, where it appeared the victim had attempted to hold the bathroom door shut."

Streeval, Rawson said, had two gunshot wounds to his head.

Finch said Streeval was shot once outside his mobile home, with the second shot occurring in the bathroom.

"A search of the suspect's residence revealed a New England Arms 12-gauge shotgun," which was found standing in the corner of the living room, Rawson said.

Streeval's mobile home, Finch said, was on the same property as Whitaker's residence.

"One lived in one mobile home, and the other lived in the other," with a third mobile home also on the property, he said.

"While conducting the investigation, it was learned that the suspect and the victim had been involved in a dispute over the property," where their trailers were located, Rawson said. "Both the suspect and the victim had been in contact with the sheriff's department earlier on the day of the shooting."

Streeval and Whitaker had come into the sheriff's department, and deputies also responded to the property midafternoon Monday, Finch aid.

"There was some dispute over property. I believe it is what caused [the shooting] to ensue," Finch said. "[Whitaker] did make the statement [that Streeval] was waving his father's rings in his face; whether that's true or not" or just Whitaker talking is not known.

Rawson said Streeval had reported he had paperwork showing he was buying his residence, and Whitaker "claimed the title to the residence had been stolen."

"The investigation is ongoing; we're interviewing a couple of other people," Finch said.

Finch said officers don't believe anyone else was around when the shooting occurred.

Before Streeval's death, he had appeared in court last week in both Wayne and Butler counties.

On Oct. 22, Streeval appeared in Wayne County pleaded guilty to felony stealing a motor vehicle and felony leaving the scene of an accident, according to entries in Missouri Casenet.

Streeval entered his pleas after he waived having preliminary hearings in his cases, and the judge subsequently placed Streeval on five years' supervised probation in each case.

The leaving the scene charge stems from a Feb. 23, 2012, incident investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, while the stealing charge stems from a May 1 incident.

On Oct. 24, Streeval was arraigned on forgery and misdemeanor driving while revoked/suspended.

The forgery charge was filed Oct. 18 and stemmed from an Aug. 28 incident in Poplar Bluff, Mo. The misdemeanor charge had been filed Oct. 1 as the result of a Sept. 10 incident, also investigated by the Poplar Bluff Police Department.

Pertinent address:

Patterson, Mo.