Witnesses lead police to restaurant robber in blackface

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Within minutes of an armed robbery occurring at Hayden's BBQ on Thursday, a suspect in blackface was in custody after officers followed a "trail of witnesses directly to his front door."

At 3:10 p.m., Poplar Bluff police officers were sent to Hayden's in Poplar Bluff about a robbery.

Employee Gregory Barger told officers a man, later identified as Ronald Lee Lunsford, walked in the front door of Hayden's with his face painted black and approached the register with a large knife, according to Sgt. Chuck Harris' report.

"The suspect pointed the knife at him and his co-workers and demanded they give him all their money in the register," Harris said. "The suspect threatened them some more until Gregory" gave him the money.

Lunsford, Harris said, also demanded the bank bags, which Gregory said were empty.

"... The suspect grabbed the bank bags and proceeded out the front door and between houses across the street," Harris said.

Three other employees and two customers provided a similar account of the robbery.

Barger said the robber's face was painted black, and he wore a white long-sleeved shirt, blue pants and gloves. Employees said the baseball cap worn by the robber had been dropped in the street.

As officers converged on the area, Capt. Dave Sutton said, witnesses began contacting officers.

"We followed the trail of witnesses directly to his front door" in the 800 block of Cynthia Street in Poplar Bluff, where "we recovered numerous items of evidence tied to the robbery, including all the money," Sutton said.

As officers approached the house, Lunsford came outside on the front porch, wiping his face with a white wash cloth, said Detective Scott Phelps' report,

"There was a black substance on Lunsford's neck and in his ears," said Phelps, who found three bank bags and a large knife near a wooden privacy fence.

During a consented search, police found in an upstairs bedroom a blue pair of pants and white long-sleeve shirt that matched the description provided by the employees. Phelps said a hand towel and robe also were found that appeared to have a black substance on them.

When he was asked why his face, neck and the inside of his ears were covered with black paint residue, "Lunsford told me he was in the process of working on a 1981 Chevrolet Corvette and had grease on his face from working on the car."

Lunsford, 55, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree robbery and armed criminal action.

Lunsford was booked at the Butler County jail.

In 2004, Lunsford was sentenced to 100 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to the felony of possession of pseudoephedrine with reasonable cause to believe the pseudoephedrine would be used to manufacture methamphetamine.