Suspect arrested in 1991 killing of Missouri teenager, Cole County sheriff says
A suspect in the 1991 fatal shooting of a teenager in central Missouri has been taken into custody, authorities announced Friday.
Gregory Jones, 14, was reported missing April 24, 1991, in Cole County. His remains were found six weeks later in a drainage ditch by a farmer who was cutting hay outside Russellville, his rural hometown about 140 miles southeast of Kansas City.
Authorities investigated the case as a homicide. On Friday, Cole County Prosecutor Locke Thompson and Cole County Sheriff John Wheeler said a suspect had been taken into custody, though few other details were released.
The Cole County Sheriff’s Office did not release the suspect’s name, citing the person’s age at the time of the slaying. The case will be reviewed by the Cole County juvenile division, Wheeler said in a statement.
A news conference will be held later, authorities said.
An eighth-grader and a Boy Scout, Gregory was remembered as having an inquisitive mind and wanting to become a federal marshal.
Residents in the tranquil, farm-dotted community were shocked by the shooting. It was the first homicide investigated by Cole County officials in nearly four years.
“We used to go off and leave the doors unlocked and never worry about a thing,” Sharon Fischer, who lived in the area for 38 years by then, said at the time. “Not any more, I can tell you that. I have my grandkids here and they’re not out of my sight.”
At the of Jones’ death, the local sheriff said the boy’s father told authorities he recalled a bizarre comment by his son that someone had a “contract” on his life. He had dismissed the remark.
The sheriff, John Hemeyer, told reporters then that there was little doubt the boy was killed shortly after he told his parents he was going to a creek near their house, where he was building a small dam.
Hemeyer had said his office received several calls from residents reporting unfamiliar vehicles and strangers in the area since the body was found.
Detectives began getting phone calls that reported the boy had been spotted in the Jefferson City area, The Star reported at the time. But investigators said they believed at least some of the calls were from the boy’s killer or others who knew about the crime and wanted officers to believe Gregory had run away.
After the arrest was announced Friday, Hemeyer told KOMU-TV in Columbia the killing has bothered him for years.
“It’s just a terrible thing that you think about every day when you wake up in the morning,” he said, “and I have for 30 years.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
