Police release photos of the box James Horn used to confine ex-girlfriend

Sedalia police on Thursday released photos of a wooden box James B. Horn Jr. used to confine his former girlfriend.

On April 30, Sandra Sutton ran to a neighbor’s house in Sedalia and called police. She told them that Horn had confined her in the house for four months, at times locked in the wooden box.

Horn fled the area after Sutton’s escape. Prosecutors a few days later charged him with kidnapping, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon.

While police looked for Horn, Sandra Sutton moved in with relatives in Clinton.

Then, on May 21, her relatives found the bodies of Sutton and her 17-year-old son, Zachary, after returning home from work. They had been shot.

Clinton police almost immediately named Horn as a suspect, and authorities activated a special regional squad of detectives to assist in the investigation and manhunt.

Two days later, the manhunt ended when officers shot and killed Horn after finding him in a house in a wildlife refuge near the Johnson and Pettis county lines.

Horn, 47, had a history of kidnapping and assaulting women. He had moved to Missouri in 2012 after being released from prison over objections of federal authorities, who had sought to prevent his release by having him declared “sexually dangerous.” A federal judge in North Carolina denied the request.

Horn had been listed on the Missouri sex offender registry for the 1992 kidnapping and rape of a woman in Tennessee.

After his release from prison in that case, federal prosecutors in Mississippi charged him with interstate kidnapping.

Horn broke into the home of a woman he formerly had a relationship with. He locked her 8-year-old daughter in a bathroom and raped the woman, according to federal court records.

He then forced the woman to withdraw money from an ATM, locked her in a car trunk and drove her to Springfield, Mo., where he continued to threaten and abuse her.

They then drove to Kansas City, where FBI agents rescued her from a motel room where Horn had been holding a knife to her throat. He was sentenced to nearly 13 years in federal prison.

This story was originally published May 28, 2015 at 2:27 PM with the headline "Police release photos of the box James Horn used to confine ex-girlfriend."