Law and Order in the Ozarks (Part XLIII): Another domestic homicide

The lead story in the December 10, 2009, issue of the Newton County Times is about the shooting death of a 39-year-old man, Shannon Price. What really makes the story stand out, however, is that the man was killed in a domestic dispute with his 35-year-old live in girlfriend, Kerri Breedlove. The story provides few details regarding what might have happened, reporting:

[County Sheriff] Slape said Price was found shot to death about 11:30 am just outside the residence he shared with [Breedlove]. Slape said Breedlove is a suspect in the shooting and was taken into custody without incident at the residence.

The Sheriff's Office had received a call from a "frantic caller saying that a woman had shot her boyfriend at their Piercetown residence." The man, who was shot once in the chest with a .22 magnum rifle, was non-responsive to CPR when the first responders arrived. Authorities do not suspect that drugs or alcohol were involved in the incident. Breedlove is being held on a first degree murder charge. The accompanying photo shows a state trooper's car in front of a trailer home; a second photo shows the sheriff at the scene.

In a place where so few murders occur, it is interesting that two recent ones have involved women killing their intimate partners in domestic disputes. Read about the other here and here. I'll reserve further comment on this one until more details are reported.

In other crime news, a 32-year-old Deer man, Carl Wayne Richardson, was arraigned in neighboring Boone County on 35 charges stemming from a "multiple-day crime spree in Boone, Newton and Carroll counties in late November." I wrote here about the series of apparently related thefts a few weeks ago. Turns out Richardson was convicted of manslaughter in Newton County in 2003, but his sentence was suspended. Following his arrest for this recent crime spree, he was sentenced to prison for four years of that previously suspended sentence. He pleaded not guilty to the most recent charges.

In other news, the Quorum Court met and will be discussing the budget at its next meeting. Among items noted at the Dec. 7 meeting was that county jail expenditures are 11% over budget, due mostly to housing prisoners in other counties since the jail's closure several months ago. Read more here. A meeting of the sheriff, architect, and Rural Development officials is set to review plans for construction of the new jail.