Law and Order in the Ozarks (Part CXXIX): High-profile violent crimes

Several high-profile crimes have been reported in the Newton County Times during the first half of 2021.   

First, the January 13, 2021 issue featured the front-page headline, "Two men arrested for suspected homicide, arson near Fallsville."  The story reports that the Deer and Ozone [volunteer]  fire departments were called to the scene of a house fire west of Fallsville around 3:35 pm on January 9.  "While battling the blaze, firefighters found the body of a male subject inside the residence.  It is believed to be that of the homeowner.  Evidence at the scene and subsequent information received confirmed investigators' suspicions that a homicide and arson ha occurred." 

A later story, in the March 3, 2021 issue, reports that charges were filed in the case.  The dateline is Oark:

Formal charges were filed Tuesday, Feb. 23, against a 61-year-old man and his 34-year-old son in connection with a suspected murder and arson event in early January, online court records show.

The story continues that the two are charged with first-degree murder and two counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, along with penalty enhancement of committing offenses in the presence of a child, while Steven Stepp (the 34-year-old charged) is also charged with arson, residential burglary, tampering with physical evidence, abuse of a corpse and felony with a firearm.   

The two men were identified after the deputies found a .22 caliber revolver in the front yard of the burned residence, along with a trail leading from the burned residence, where there were more .22 shells and empty beer cans.  

The Stepps were identified as the neighbors and they lived in separate residences on the same property.  

The story is not clear at all--is quite poorly written--but it appears that the Stepps were neighbors of the murdered man, Jerry Don Cantrell.  An interview with Cantrell's son indicated Cantrell was "having problems with the Stepps."  The story continues: 

At about 2:45 the following morning, Clarksville Police got a call from Angela Stepp and her daughter, Jessica Stepp, of Clarksville, who are related to Steven and Vernon [the suspects]. [The story later discloses that Angela is Vernon's sister-in-law] 

They told Clarksville Police that [the Stepp men] had told them they had killed man and burned his house.  They were told that Steven and Vernon [Stepp] would kill them if they told the police and that they were armed for the encounter with law enforcement, the affidavit said.

The involvement of the Clarksville Police is interesting because Clarksville is 16 miles from Oark, the story's dateline, and even farther from Fallsville, where these events occurred.  Clarksville is the county seat of Johnson County, which is also home to Oark, and Fallsville is in Newton County, to the north.  

The story later discloses that Cantrell had supervised visitation with Vernon Stepp's grandchildren.  He told police that Steven went to Cantrell's residence with him and Steven got into an argument.  Steven then left Cantrell's residence, while Vernon stayed.  Vernon said Steven returned a short time later with a .357 pistol and holster.  He said Cantrell produced a pistol-grip shotgun from under the kitchen table and pushed Vernon to the floor.  Vernon said Cantrell fired a shot over the Stepps' heads and Steven fired twice at Cantrell with the .357.  The suggestion is self-defense and/or Steven's defense of his father.  

Steven Stepp told police he burned the house because he was scared.

Will be interesting to see how this case is tried.   

The May 19, 2021 issue features a front-page headline, "Charges filed in matter of stolen school truck."  Here are the details:

Conner Ray Rigsbee, 22, was formally charged in Newton County Circuit Court, last May 5, on charges of theft by receiving, a Class C felony, and possession of drug paraphernalia, a class D felony.  

Court filings allege that last April 23, sheriff's deputy ... was dispatched to the Deer School to investigate a report of a 2006 Chevrolet pick up truck. 

The night before, multiple deputies were attempting to locate Rigsbee in the same area.  He had allegedly stolen a pistol from his mother earlier in the day.  

* * *

Rigsbee later stated he traded the gun and he bought tje truck from someone he had never met before.  Rigsbee was found to have in his possession a glass pipe having a crystal-like residue. 

The May 12 edition featured two more crime headlines:  "Man dies from self-inflicted gunshot wound," with the dateline St. Joe, and "Man sentenced for setting fire within [Buffalo National River]," dateline Fort Smith.  The former story is actually more interesting than it sounds at first blush because the man who shot himself did so after the vehicle in which he was a passenger--a vehicle driven by a woman--was pulled over by the National Park Service for routine traffic violations.   The man, during the "contact," was "determined ... to have possible, non-extraditable warrants from another jurisdiction, along with a lengthy criminal history involving firearms, drugs, assault and domestic violence."  Later, presumably after the suicide, the two were identified "as persons of interest in a shooting incident in Pulaski County [Little Rock]." 

The April 21, 2021 issue reports the headline, "Pregnant woman stabbed," for which the dateline is Harrison.  Here's the lede:  

Authorities say a man formerly from Missouri was in custody Friday on suspicion of stabbing his girlfriend Thursday night in Bellefonte.  

The story reports that the victim was 27 weeks pregnant with the perpetrator's child.  He reportedly attacked her "without provocation as she was lying on the couch."   He will reportedly face two counts of capital murder for the attack.  None of the wounds "damaged vital organs and weren't life threatening," though she suffered "multiple cuts and stab wounds to the arms, back, shoulder and face."  

Another story from that issue is headlined, "Man runs from deputy second time."  The lede states that the Newton Coutny sheriff "said a 33-year-old man on a four-wheeler ran from a deputy Wednesday night for the second time and was airlifted for treatment of injures."  Although on a four-wheeler, the driver took the sheriff's deputy on a chase through parts of two neighboring counties.  The man is wanted on multiple warrants from different jurisdictions, including for speeding and possession of controlled substance.  The "second time" in the heading refers to the man's arrest in August, 2020 after he failed to appear in court on charges from a pursuit in February of that year.