Triple Murder Suspect Arrested

You can read about the triple murder of the members of the Leutjen family here.
The Suspect is apprehended here.

It seems the murder suspect is Donnie and Sharon's nephew and they are speculating the motive was robbery. Does this make us feel any safer in our homes around here. Maybe a bit. I know if my nephew wanted money all he would have to do is ask, I'd probably tell him I'm broke but it would be close to the truth. I still lock the door when I'm in the other end of the house. Don't know if this botched robbery was because of the economy or just plain greed. I can't see how the nephew thought he was going to fence anything (most of Donnie's collections were quite famous, hard to fence stuff like that) or that Donnie would just keep money laying around the house but maybe there's more to it than that. They are still looking for other suspects or actually they said "We have evidence that links at least one more, if not multiple suspects to this homicide."

I'm lucky in that I have police officers living next door and we all work different shifts that change, like we have anything worth stealing but....... I know my security system works because the kids have came to the house unexpectedly more than once and been VERY surprised, IE I call the house and ask them what they are doing there or someone comes in in the middle of the night demanding to know WHO'S THERE. Also being known as slightly crazy and having a temper doesn't hurt either? :-)

So I've booked way too much into the next two weeks so my blogging will be on hold mostly. Suddenly realized my drivers license was up for renewal, need birth certificate here in MO now, need to get it because I spent two hours looking for it and nada, nothing. Wienie roast, need to clean house, trip to dentist, and there's that work thing that keeps getting in there.
Got the lawn mowed, yey me!!! but it will need it again soon because we have had like 2 real days totally without rain. Oh yeah, my daughter is coming to visit and I'm squeezing a short trip in there? Mountains of laundry, have to go pick up a vehicle....... better get busy. It's good to be able to walk and do again though! Here's the scoop on my bloodclot on that on Animals That Give Pause, this is the most recent post.

Tragedy And Life In Mid Missouri

Three people were killed earlier this week in Cole Camp, killed were the grandparents and granddaughter who lived with them, 61, 64, and 15 years of age respectively. The authorities have now declared it a triple murder. Motive? Either it was a robbery gone bad or someone had a grudge. My sympathies go out to the family and I in no way am making light of this tragedy by writing about it. Read more here. I didn't know these people but I'm sure I knew them to say hi or recognize them. They were close friends of one of my best friends. There is a news conference in an hour or so and I'm hoping there is some closure and answers.

My memory is sometimes faulty but there have been few murders close by here. A VERY close family friend in the 70s who left 3 young sons was killed in a robbery gone bad, a man was found dead laying in the highway not 300 ft from our house, he'd been laying there either dead or alive when a car ran over him, that happened in 2004 I think. Two people were killed in the 80s by a family member about 7 miles west of here as the crow flies. A boy I knew evidently went nuts and started shooting @ his family members in the 90s, someone shot someone in a trailer we had listed when I was a real estate agent in 1991. A boy whom I grew up with was shot and killed a few years ago when he walked back in a house he'd been in as a guest, I mean he walked out and walked back in? We aren't heavily populated here but crime isn't non existent but traffic tickets make up a great bulk of police work here in the country and smaller towns. This is a shock to our systems. I hope it reminds everyone to pull their loved ones closer, watch out for your neighbor, and we will all be locking our doors more frequently. I don't know if our low crime is due to the heavy German population and Mennonite population or the fact everyone knows everyone and we all have guns?

I hope anyone who has information will come forward to shed some light on this senseless tragedy.

Postscript: It's Saturday and I should be doing my eternal yard work but this crime is still preying on peoples minds around here. Cole Camp had not had a murder in all 170 years of it's existence, the other crimes I cited were in neighboring towns, none of which can boast of such a record, not even our little town of maybe 75 with 500 people in the suburbs (small farms and acreages surrounding the town). The news media and police have descended on the town en masse as you can imagine. People are locking their doors more, even when they are home and awake which is unheard of here and taking the keys out of everything they can think of. My personal feelings? It's rumored to be someone the victims knew well, if so it was perhaps a robbery but perhaps also a crime of passion, this is a horrible scenario but almost better than the alternative. If it was a random act of robbery from a stranger it could happen to anyone anytime anyplace. After visiting and living in larger cities in the 1990s I always said here where we live if you got shot you knew who did it and probably why, not like the larger cities where crime is not only more rampant but is often completely random.