Found Deceased MO - Ashley Onescu, 22, Springfield, 30 June 2014 *Arrest*

The Springfield Police Department is asking the public for help in finding a missing 22-year-old woman who was last seen on June 30. According to Springfield Police Spokeswoman Lisa Cox, Ashley C. Onescu (Cunningham) was last seen getting into a green Pontiac Grand Am near the Library Station at 2535 N. Kansas Expy. around 2 p.m. on June 30. Cox says Onescu has gone missing previously, but has always contacted family members by phone or social media in the past. Onescu has not had any contact with family members since June 30 and reportedly does not have access to her prescribed medications. According to Cox, her family fears she may be in danger.

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Onescu is 22, approximately 5 feet 7 inches and 115 pounds with reddish-blond hair, blue eyes and a tattoo on each shoulder.

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Court documents show that $300 and some meth went missing from the house on South John, and Newman was convinced Onescu took it. Police say witnesses saw Newman took Onescu into the garage and beat her.

Then in the early hours of July first, police say Newman took Onescu and two others out to a rural area near Fordland. According to the court papers, Newman and Onescu walked off into the woods near Panther Creek and police say that’s where he raped her and slit her throat. Court papers indicate that Newman admitted to multiple people that he killed her. One witness quoted Newman in saying he, "near cut her head clean off."

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The first-degree murder case against a Marshfield man was bound over to Webster County Circuit Court following a preliminary hearing last Friday...

Stewart said she, along with Thomas, Onescu and Newman, all went to the creek area to look for arrowheads. Once at the location, the four exited the vehicle with Onescu and Newman separating from the vehicle area, while Stewart said she and Thomas commenced to look for arrowheads along the creek.

Eventually, Stewart and Thomas returned to the vehicle and waited for Onescu and Newman. However, she said Newman returned alone and when she asked if they were missing someone, he made a derogatory statement targeted at Onescu.

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Onescu's father, Ted Cunningham, gave a brief statement to the judge.

“In a perfect world I would not be here today because my daughter would not be dead over three hundred dollars of product,” Cunningham said.

Newman had once been convicted of stealing, Cunningham said, but — unlike his daughter — he wasn't killed over it.

He asked the judge to give Newman "no leniency."

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