2 arrests in sex assault suspect murder

12-2-2010 Missouri:

(KMOV) -- News 4 sources confirm a man found shot to death Tuesday at Route 66 State Park near Eureka was the owner of a south St. Louis comic book store and suspect in the rape of a 13-year-old.

Police found the car owned by Kenneth McClure, 57, Wednesday morning in south St. Louis.

That car was seen in the area of where McClure's body was discovered.
McClure was supposed to be in court Tuesday morning for a hearing related to his rape charge, but he did not show up.

A State Park Ranger found McClure's body on the ground in an area near where Highway 44 and the Meramec River meet at Route 66 state park. He was shot in the back of the head.

Police are still looking for the shooter. ..Source.. by KMOV News4

UPDATE 12-2: News 4: 2 arrests in sex assault suspect murder

(KMOV) -- News 4 has learned 2 suspects have been arrested in the murder of Kenneth McClure.

His body was found Tuesday at Route 66 State Park near Eureka. McClure, 57, was the owner of a south St. Louis comic book store and suspect in the rape of a 13-year-old.

St. Louis County police say the two suspects were arrested Wednesday morning and booked on 1st degree murder charges and armed criminal action. The charges were taken under advisement by the St. Louis County Prosecutor's office and the suspects were released from custody.

McClure was supposed to be in court Tuesday morning for a hearing related to his rape charge, but he did not show up.

A State Park Ranger found McClure's body on the ground in an area near where Highway 44 and the Meramec River meet at Route 66 state park. He was shot in the back of the head.

Man found dead in St. Louis County was arrested for rape in October

ST. LOUIS • A man found dead in St. Louis County Tuesday was charged earlier this year in a statutory rape case and had been arrested after a standoff with police in October, a relative said.

The man's nephew identified the shooting victim found by St. Louis County police at Route 66 State Park as Kenneth McClure, 57, of St. Louis. His body was found a few hours after he missed an appearance in the court case against him.

McClure was involved in a standoff with police Oct. 28 after they showed up at the comic book shop he operated to arrest him on charges of statutory rape, assault and unlawful use of a weapon. He was accused of sex with a 13-year-old girl.

McClure had a weapon when police showed up at Legends Comics and Sports Cards, in the 5800 block of Hampton Avenue. He put the gun to his head at one point but later surrendered to police. He was charged with resisting arrest.

St. Louis County Police on Wednesday afternoon confirmed Kenneth McClure was the man found at the state park.

St. Louis police said a car seen leaving the park and found later in the city is linked to McClure. They said the license plate belonged to McClure, though they said it didn't appear the plate matched the car. McClure's nephew said McClure had recently put the plate on the Camaro to move the car from storage.

Police found the body at Route 66 State Park, near the Meramec River and Interstate 44, while responding to a call of shots fired about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The area is at the entrance of the old Times Beach community. A ranger saw the older-model, dark-colored Chevrolet Camaro leaving the area. St. Louis County police said the car was the victim's.

The man, who appeared to be in his 50s, had been fatally shot. A ranger found the body under a bridge on the north outer road, according to Rick Eckhard, spokesman for the St. Louis County police.

Police on Wednesday morning recovered the Camaro. The car was discovered after 6 a.m. Wednesday at Juniata Street and Ohio Avenue.

McClure posted bond and was released from jail Nov. 4. He was scheduled to appear in Judge Michael Stelzer's court Tuesday morning on the charges against him.

Just before the 9 a.m. hearing, McClure called his attorney, Jim Pree, and said he had car trouble, Stelzer said. They waited, but when he still didn't show up, Stelzer issued a warrant for his arrest.

"This is the first time I was waiting for a client and I found out he was murdered while I was waiting," said Pree.

McClure was the "nicest guy you'd want to meet," Pree said, and professed his "absolute, complete innocence," in the sex case.

His nephew, Everett "Sonny" McClure III, 30, said the last time he spoke to his uncle was shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday, when his uncle called him telling him to go to the comic book store to check on the alarm system that had been tripped. Everett McClure said he assumed his uncle was calling from the courthouse. When Everett McClure arrived at the store, he found a note from his uncle instructing him on how to sell the Camaro. The salutation in the note said, "Love you stay strong for me."

He said he found out later Tuesday afternoon that his uncle was likely the man found dead in the state park near Eureka.

"I feel like I got cheated out of my goodbye," Everett McClure said. "To get the last chance to say goodbye, to say how I felt."

Everett McClure said police questioned him at St. Louis County Police headquarters for nine hours before releasing him.

The charges against McClure in the case stem from incidents between June 2008 and June 2009, according to court documents. He was accused of sex with the girl, pointing a gun at her, and hitting her with a back scratcher and a fly swatter, all in the 5800 block of Hampton. That's where the comic shop is located and also where McClure lived. ..Source.. by FROM STAFF REPORTS

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[UPDATE] Kenneth McClure: Man Killed at Route 66 Park Was Comic Shop Owner Accused of Raping Teen

12-2-2010:

Update: St. Louis County police have questioned two people on suspicion of killing McClure. Otis Richmond, 32, and Angel Scheibel, 25, live in the 3400 block of Juniata in south St. Louis, just down the street from where McClure's Camaro was discovered yesterday.

The two were arrested and booked early Wednesday and later released. The St. Louis County prosecutor's office is determining whether or not to file charges of first-degree murder and armed-criminal action. Their mugshots appear below. ..Source.. by Chad Garrison

MO- Woman from Nemo loses appeal for killing ex-boyfriend

1-13-2009 Missouri:

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Supreme Court upheld the conviction of a woman from Hickory County who killed an ex-boyfriend at her home eight years ago. This is the second time that the state's highest court considered Jamie Avery's conviction.

Avery shot Bruce Paris at her home at Nemo, near Pomme de Terre Lake, in December 2000. Investigators said she gave more than one version of what happened but ultimately claimed she shot Paris in self-defense after he threatened to beat her. She said she didn't mean to kill him.

Avery argued she was afraid Paris might sexually assault her. She said Paris had made several harassing telephone calls to her before she finally agreed to meet with him. Several hours later, she ended up shooting him after she said he tried to come in her home after she tried to keep him out.

A jury convicted Avery in 2001 for second-degree murder and armed criminal action. She received two consecutive 30-year prison sentences in December 2000. Avery appealed.

In November 2003, the Supreme Court ordered a new trial. It said the jury should have been able to consider alternate verdicts of self-defense and voluntary manslaughter. The trial judge declined to read jury instructions that would have allowed either verdict.

At a second trial in Webster County, a jury convicted Avery of voluntary manslaughter and armed criminal action. A judge sentenced her to concurrent prison terms of 15 and 35 years. Avery appealed again.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court upheld the second set of convictions. In a unanimous opinion, it said there was a great deal of evidence that Avery drank alcohol the day of the shooting. That evidence, the court said, supports the trial judge's decision to submit a voluntary intoxication instruction to the jury. That instruction was read to make sure the jury knew intoxication is not a reason to acquit someone of a criminal act.

"Avery argues that Instruction No. 6 was likely to confuse or mislead the jury into believing that she had admitted some wrongdoing and was attempting to escape liability based on voluntary intoxication. If an instruction is an accurate statement of law and supported by the evidence, however, there is no prejudice," the Supreme Court decision says.

"In this case, there was abundant evidence of Avery's alcohol consumption to support the trial court's determination that without being instructed as to the legal effect of that evidence, the jury might well have been left to guess as to what legal effect to give that evidence."

Also, the Supreme Court judges ruled, the trial judge didn't abuse his discretion by not letting the jury hear testimony that Paris was a registered sex offender.

"Avery argues such evidence was admissible to demonstrate whether the victim was the initial aggressor. There was no evidence offered at trial that Avery knew anything about the conviction," the opinion says.

The court said having that information wouldn't have helped the jury decide what happened that day in 2000. ..News Source.. by Gene Hartley, KY3 News


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SC89390
State of Missouri v. Jamie Avery
Hickory and Webster counties
Instructions and evidence
Listen to the oral argument:

Avery was represented during argument by Craig Johnston of the public defender's office in Columbia; and the state was represented by Shawn J. Mackelprang of the attorney general's office in Jefferson City.

Jamie Avery moved in with her boyfriend John Hamilton in September 2000 in Hickory County. Soon after moving in with Hamilton, Avery and Bruce Paris had a sexual encounter. Avery, Paris and a mutual friend subsequently made plans to go to Chicago, but Paris cancelled the plans after rekindling his relationship with an ex-girlfriend. In December 2000 – while Hamilton was out of town – Paris met up with Avery and their mutual friend, driving around in an automobile while consuming alcohol and marijuana. Eventually Paris and Avery went into Avery and Hamilton's home. Paris left the house at some point but returned after making a call on a pay telephone. Avery then shot Paris, called the sheriff's department and reported that she "shot an intruder." When the police arrived, Paris was dead in Avery's house. In June 2005, Avery was charged with first-degree murder. At trial, Avery wanted to admit evidence Paris was a registered sex offender to demonstrate that he was an initial aggressor. The trial court ruled the evidence was not admissible under State v. Gonzales, 153 S.W.3d 311 (Mo. banc 2005). She was convicted of the lesser-included offense of voluntary manslaughter and armed criminal action and was sentenced to concurrent prison sentences of 15 years and 35 years, respectively. Avery appeals.

Avery argues the trial court violated her rights to due process and a properly instructed jury because it gave the state's voluntary intoxication instruction over her objection. She contends that the instruction lacked evidentiary support she was intoxicated, that giving the instruction prejudiced her because it likely misled the jury to believe she admitted to some wrongdoing and was attempting to escape liability based on intoxication, and that the instruction negatively would affect her credibility – the key issue at trial. Avery asserts the trial court denied her rights to due process, to a fair trial and to present a defense. She argues the trial court abused its discretion in excluding evidence Paris was a registered sex offender because her theory of defense, presented through instructions for self-defense and defense of premises, was that she was defending herself from an attack by Paris. The fact that Paris was a registered sex offender, she contends, was relevant evidence to establish whether Paris was the aggressor and whether he was attempting to assault Avery sexually when he attacked her. Avery asserts the state "opened the door" to such evidence when one of its witnesses testified that Paris was a "good guy."

The state responds the trial court did not err in submitting the voluntary intoxication instruction because there was substantial evidence to support an inference that Avery was voluntarily intoxicated. It argues the trial court did not plainly err in refusing to admit evidence Paris was a registered sex offender because Avery’s offer of proof was insufficient and she made no argument to rebut the state's good character evidence about Paris at trial and, therefore, did not preserve the error for appeal. ..Source..

MO- Gunman who killed ex-girlfriend in O'Fallon, Mo. was registered sex offender

Posted in Related Deaths

11-16-2008 Missouri:

St. Johns Mercy Urgent Care Center in O'Fallon, Mo. will remain closed this weekend and reopen Monday.

On Friday, Gary Sheets, 45, held hostage his ex-girlfriend, who worked as a lab technician. Police said he shot and killed Jenenne Meadows, 47, before the SWAT team shot and killed him.

Sheets was convicted in 1998 of sexual assault against a 27-year-old woman in Colorado and served 3 years in prison.

Jeff Lesinski knew the suspect since high school at Ritenor. He believes his friend was frustrated from not being able to get a job after being labeled a felon. Lesinski said, "I think what he did was horrible and unforgivable but I can see how he got pushed into it but it doesn't make it right. I'm sorry for Jenenne and her kids. I'm sorry for his mom and his family. It's a terrible tragedy."

The victim had 3 children, the youngest being a teen.

Her family and neighbors asked for privacy. ..News Source.. by KSDK

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Killer of girlfriend in O'Fallon, Mo., sexually assaulted another in 1998

O'FALLON, Mo. — The Gary Sheets who shot his ex-girlfriend dead at St. John's Mercy Urgent Care Center is a stranger to an ex-wife who said he was never violent.

But he would be familiar to another girlfriend — the one who put him in prison for sexually assaulting her in 1998 and told police he threatened to harm her parents.

Information from Sheets' friends, and police reports, suggests parallels between Friday night's shooting of Jenenne Meadows and the sexual attack on the St. Louis woman with whom he moved to Colorado in 1998.

In both cases, he lived with strong-willed women in their homes and would not disconnect when they tried to break up with him.
Sheets, a former blackjack dealer, and Meadows, an avid poker player, met at a bar in the summer of 2007. The divorcees hit it off — but not for long.

The relationship soured after Sheets moved into Meadows' home in St. Peters that October, friends said. He moved out in May. But ill will festered.

Late Friday afternoon, Sheets, 45, calmly carried a pistol into the clinic in O'Fallon, Mo., where Meadows, 47, was a lab technician. He ordered the others out and held her hostage.

He let her call her eldest son, Kyle, 22, to say goodbye. When Kyle didn't pick up, she reached her next-oldest, Anthony, 21.

"She told Anthony what was going on," her ex-husband, Ken Meadows, said Saturday. "Then this guy Gary takes the phone over and got rather graphic as to what he was going to do and how he was going to deal with her."

Eventually, Sheets killed her. MetroWest SWAT officers stormed in and killed him.

What made Sheets snap? Police did not take questions Saturday. But Jeff Lesinski, a friend of Sheets, said the estranged couple had exchanged hostile text messages for weeks.

Ken Meadows, who had three sons with Jenenne Meadows before their divorce in 2002, said she had left Sheets because "he had a significant drinking problem she wasn't willing to tolerate."

Lesinski said Sheets was frustrated because "Jenenne had basically said it was her house and her rules and he wasn't the husband so he didn't get much input as to what happened with the house. Jenenne was pretty forceful and pretty strong-willed."

Dana Miles, of St. Louis, who had married Sheets in 1987, said he got alcoholism treatment during their marriage and was sober for about a year. She divorced him in 1992, after he started drinking again.

"He was a very nice and fun-loving guy, but had an alcohol problem," she said. "He hated guns. He was never comfortable with any of that. And he was not a violent person. He just wasn't. Even when he was drunk, when we were married, he was always the sloppy, fall-down-go-to-sleep drunk. I'm just shocked that it came to that."

In 1998, Sheets moved to Westminster, Colo., with a girlfriend from St. Louis. He continued to live in her apartment there, sleeping on a sofa, after she broke up with him. She would later tell police he refused to move out unless she paid him $4,000 for the cost of giving up a good job to go west with her. She would also say that he was becoming more aggressive, making her afraid with threats to "ruin her" and "destroy her." She told an officer Sheets had said he would not harm her "but would hurt her family, living in St. Louis."

The night of June 1, 1998, according to police reports obtained by the Post-Dispatch, Sheets would not stop banging on her barred bedroom door, so she opened it. She said he sexually assaulted her but stopped when she made fun of him.

The report said she asked him that night, "Why don't you just kill me? This is what you're doing to me anyway." She told police he replied, "Believe me, if I had a gun, I would. Maybe I could go into Denver right now and get one off the street."

She said he also warned her, "I don't care what happens to me, if you go to the police, I'm allowed one phone call. I will use it to call my friends in St. Louis and have them take care of your parents."

Records show that he pleaded guilty of sexual assault and served about two years in prison. After his release in 2000, he moved back to Missouri and had to register as a sex offender.

The conviction meant he could not return to his former job at the Alton Belle.

Lesinski said that he got Sheets a job at his mortgage business for about 2 1/2 years, and that his friend later worked as a pipefitter.

Sheets and Meadows met at a bar last summer, Lesinski said. "He had casino experience, he knew the game well, that's how they started things off, playing the game together," Lesinski said.

Meadows had competed regularly in a bar-based poker league with 6,000 area members.

"She was awesome," said Allan Zwick, the St. Louis-area manger for Nationwide Poker Tour. "She was fun, energetic. She'd get a little drunk and she'd be loud, and kind of fun."

Deziray Vickers, a tournament director, recalled her as "the life of the party" who "laughed a lot."

After the breakup, Sheets took a job with a salvage company that took him to the Western states. He returned about six weeks ago and complained to Lesinski that his chances of finding work were slim.

During that time, the angry texting with Meadows accelerated, Lesinski said.

At the Eagle's Nest in St. Charles on Friday night, word of her slaying stopped poker players in the middle of a game, Vickers said. "Some people were in tears and some were numb. People couldn't focus."

She said, "The shock to me was that Gary was such a nice guy when he was playing poker with me." ..News Source.. by Jeremy Kohler, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

MO- Cape Girardeau woman shoots, kills would-be rapist at her home

10-31-2008 Missouri:

A Cape Girardeau woman shot and fatally wounded Ronnie W. Preyer, 47, a registered sex offender who had broken into her home early this morning with the intention of raping her a second time, Cape Girardeau Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said today.

Swingle said he will not be charging the victim, an older woman who positively identified Preyer this morning as the man who raped her on Saturday.

"It is clear that under Missouri's self-defense law the woman was justified in using deadly force upon the intruder in her home because he was in the process of burglarizing her home when she shot him," Swingle wrote in a letter to police chief Carl Kinnison.

Cape Girardeau police had been keeping a close eye on the woman's home, in the southwest part of Cape Girardeau, since she reported the rape nearly a week ago.

In that instance, she'd heard the glass break in a basement window around midnight on Saturday, and decided to make a run for it through her front door, according to police reports of the incident. When she opened the door, Preyer attacked her.

He punched her in the face and forced her into the bedroom, where he raped her.

She reported the rape that night, and described her rapist.

Police were actively working the unsolved rape case, Swingle said, and had been frequently driving past the woman's home in case her attacker returned.

This morning, the woman called 911 after hearing a car door close near her residence. An officer responded, checked the doors and windows, including the one that had been broken during the first attack.

Her landlord had recently repaired the window for her, Swingle said.

Once the officer determined that no one had entered the home, he left.

About two hours later, the woman was at home watching television, when Preyer broke the same basement window and came in, getting the still-wet calking on his clothing as he did so, police reports said.

He found a main fuse panel in the basement and shut off the electricity. The victim immediately tried to call 911, but the phone would not work because there was no electric.

Having recently purchased a shotgun, she grabbed the weapon and when Preyer began banging on the basement door, she was ready for him. When he crashed through the basement door into her kitchen, she shot him once in the chest and ran, heading for a neighbor's house, where she called the police.

It only took officers 45 seconds to respond to the 911 call, Swingle said.

When they arrived, they saw Preyer stumbling away from the home, and an officer ordered him to stop. When he didn't, a female officer drew her own weapon and they forced him to the ground.

He was transported to Saint Francis Medical Center where he died several hours later.

Early Friday morning, the victim identified Preyer out of a photo line-up as both the man who raped her on Saturday and the man who broke into her house today.

Preyer's criminal history is speckled with home invasions and assaults, and he has been convicted of failing to inform the county of his change of address in compliance with registered sex offender laws. Swingle was getting ready to charge him with rape, attempted rape, burglary and attempted burglary this morning, armed with the positive eyewitness identification, when he learned around 9:30 a.m. that Preyer was dead.

Preyer was convicted in 1989 of raping and robbing a woman in New Madrid County and he served 15 years in prison on both charges.

He was also arrested last December and charged with attempted rape and second degree felony assault, but Swingle's office dismissed the charges because he did not think he could get a conviction, he said.

The victim in that case, a woman in her early 30s, allegedly went for a drive with Preyer, knowing of his sex offender status, and he attacked her while in the car.

After talking with the victim in that case, Swingle decided to dismiss the charges because the woman did not use a nearby phone to call for help, and because she went with Preyer because she was "bored," even though he was a sex offender, he said.

"We know in at least one case, he did a good job of picking his victim, this time, he didn't do such a good job," Swingle said. ..News Source.. by Bridget DiCosmo, Southeast Missourian

Sex offender dies after fight in prison

8-8-2007 Missouri:

Jefferson City — Authorities on Tuesday were investigating a fight at a southern Missouri prison that resulted in the death of a convicted sex offender.

Pleasant J. Hurst, 48, was punched in the head and injured during an altercation Saturday in the gymnasium of the South Central Correctional Center in Licking. He was pronounced dead later that day at a hospital in Houston, Mo., said Department of Corrections spokesman Brian Hauswirth.

His death is being investigated as a possible homicide, Texas County Prosecutor Michael R. Anderson said Tuesday. Anderson said he has a suspect but declined to identify the person.

Hurst was serving a 52-year sentence from St. Charles County for first-degree child molestation, sexual misconduct with a child, kidnapping and attempted kidnapping.

The Corrections Department's investigators are looking into a motive for the fight, including the potential that it was related to the nature of Hurst's convictions. An autopsy has been ordered to determine the exact cause of death.

Hauswirth declined to identify the other inmate involved in the fight but said he did not believe the other inmate was injured or that any weapons were used in the attack. Department investigators are to report their findings to the Texas County prosecutor.

At Hurst's 2003 trial, prosecutors said he grabbed a 10-year-old girl at a Wal-Mart store in O'Fallon in December 2002 and forced her to lie on the floor while threatening to hurt her and the child's family. The girl ignored the command and began to scream, attracting the attention of employees who chased Hurst as he tried to flee the store. Witnesses eventually caught him.

Hurst also had several previous convictions for sex offenses. Among them, he was convicted in 1989 on two counts of first-degree sexual abuse and two counts of sexual assault. He was released from prison in February 1993. ..more.. by The Associated Press