A 46-year-old Missouri woman was sentenced to life imprisonment on May 20 after pleading guilty to a charge of murder in the second degree. She also admitted to possessing a gun illegally and using it in the commission of a crime. The woman had been charged with first-degree murder for the April 2018 slaying of her boyfriend. The Holts Summit man was found shot in the head in his home.
When the woman called the Callaway County Sheriff’s Office to report the killing, she told deputies that she had been at a friend’s house until approximately 1:30 a.m. and a safe containing $15,000 and an undisclosed quantity of marijuana had been taken. Deputies began to consider the woman a suspect when her friend told them that she had left at about 11:00 p.m. During the course of the investigation, the woman blamed the victim’s daughter for the killing and then implied that a man had committed the crime after taking her to the house at gunpoint.
After prolonged questioning, the woman admitted that she had removed the safe from the house and taken it to a nearby storage facility. When they visited the storage facility, deputies discovered footage filmed by security cameras showing the woman visiting the storage shortly after the killing and minutes before she called 911 to report the crime. The safe contained marijuana, drug paraphernalia and handgun ammunition.
Police take great care when investigating serious crimes like murder, so misleading or false statements made by suspects rarely fool them for very long. This is why experienced criminal defense attorneys may advise individuals charged with serious crimes to remain silent and allow their lawyers to communicate with law enforcement and prosecutors on their behalf.
