GUILTY MO - Bob & Ellen Sheldon murdered in their Carthage home, Oct 2008

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Bob and Ellen Sheldon owned The Old Cabin Shop, a weapons store, since 1957 in Carthage, MO. They had been married for over 50 years and they died together in their own home last Sat. night. Their son found them Sunday after his parents failed to show up for church which was very unusual.

My dad mentioned it to me today because he grew up in Neosho which is about 10 minutes, had two aunts who lived and are buried in Carthage and so he knew the Sheldons. His parents had bought a gun from them in the 60's. They were considered pillars of the community and very well known in the area. I did a google search and found that Steve Huff had a write up about it on his webpage.

It does not appear that LE has released the cause of death although it has been called 'horrible and brutal' and the lead investigator said they believe this was a 'hate' crime although not motivated by race or gender.....it is also rumoured their dog was killed too.

http://www.truecrimereport.com/2008/10/double_homicide_gun_shop_owner.php

http://www.neoshodailynews.com/news/police_and_fire/x502301372/Sheriff-Slayings-were-brutal

http://www.ky3.com/news/local/30975244.html (news station from my hometown, Springfield, MO)

http://www.missourinet.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=0271C7C6-5056-B82A-37D686316FBFA52F

http://www.moberlymonitor.com/state_news/x1348675988/Pastor-calls-for-prayers-for-slain-husband-wife
 
There might be some sort of break in the "old cabin shop" murders that have been unsolved for 9 months.

Detectives are pursuing a lead that someone living in Springfield might have important information about the unsolved case....

Sheriff Archie Dunn said that Monday’s announcement was intended primarily to inform people in the Springfield area that Jasper County investigators will be pursuing a lead there.

“Some of our detectives are going to be working that area, and we want the public to know we will have officers in the area,” Dunn said.

The sheriff also indicated that the announcement has “more than one purpose.” But he declined to explain what he meant by that disclosure. Dunn also declined to discuss what information detectives came upon that points to the Springfield area or how that information was received.



http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/local_story_187221030.html
 
A Springfield man and Jasper man are likely to each face five charges, including two counts of first-degree murder, in the slaying of a Carthage couple last fall.

Jasper County Sheriff Archie Dunn said at a press conference this afternoon that Darren J. Winans, 21, of Jasper, and Matt D. Laurin, 19, of Springfield, are both in custody and await charges in the murders of Robert and Ellen Sheldon, of rural Carthage.

The double homicide had gone unsolved since the Sheldons’ bodies were discovered inside their home on Black Powder Lane off Mound Street west of Carthage the morning of Oct. 12 by a son, Daniel Sheldon.

Dunn today credited a pair of anonymous tips submitted through the department’s tip lines with helping to lead to the arrests.

Dunn would disclose little information about the tips, including specifically who they identified.

The tip was first received in December, although Dunn said it “kind of led to a dead-end at one point when the guy lawyered up”. He would not identify who “the guy” was.

The tip resurfaced again in May, this time leading to the arrests.
 
A Jasper man who has been accused of slaying a rural Carthage couple had come to the attention of county authorities less than two weeks after the murder on a related theft case....

Winans was charged last week with the Sept. 23 theft of a rifle from the Sheldons’ business in rural Carthage.

Jasper County Sheriff Archie Dunn this afternoon said that Sept. 23 theft likely made Winans think the couple would be “an easy target,” prompting him to revisit the couple’s home Oct. 11.

Dunn today said it appeared that burglary was the apparent motive for Winans and a Springfield man, Matt D. Laurin, 19, going to the Sheldon home and business in October. The pair are accused of stabbing the couple that day.


http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/local_story_189185641.html
 
This reminds me of a murder in Raytown, a suburb of Kansas City, several years ago. This elderly couple owned a bible store, apparently very upstanding people who would give a bible to anyone who couldn't afford one. They were murder inside their bible store (which I think also served as a home). Very brutal and a big story here. A kid who graduated from my high school a couple of years before me was convicted for it, I believe.
 
After almost nine months there has been an arrest in the murders of an elderly Carthage couple.

At a news conference held today in Jasper County it was announced that Matthew D. Laurin, 19, Springfield (& Nixa) and Darren J. Winans, 21, of Jasper, Missouri, were arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder for their alleged involvement in last falls murders of Robert and Ellen Sheldon.

http://crimesceneinvestigations.blogspot.com/2009/07/breaking-news-two-people-arrested-in.html
 
A Springfield man has admitted that he took part in the October 2008 murders of an elderly Carthage couple.

Twenty year-old Matthew D. Laurin pleaded guilty today to the brutal stabbing deaths of Robert, 70, and Ellen Sheldon, 71, on October 11,2008. Robert Sheldon was stabbed 26 times, his wife six when they returned to their home just west of Carthage after attending a church function. The family dog was also killed in the attack.

It was a plea that will keep Laurin off of death row.

http://crimesceneinvestigations.blogspot.com/2010/07/breaking-springfield-man-pleads-guilty.html
 
The Springfield man who pleaded guilty two days ago to two counts of first-degree murder for the stabbing deaths of an elderly Carthage couple was found dead in his jail cell about 12:47 p.m. today.

Sheriff Archie Dunn says Matthew Laurin, 20, met with a counselor today and was asked if he was suicidal or planning to harm himself. Laurin told her, "No, I'm just angry," according to Dunn.

Laurin returned to his jail cell at 10:48 a.m. and when jailers went to his cell to give him lunch they found him hanging from a bed sheet wrapped around an air conditioning grate.

http://crimesceneinvestigations.blogspot.com/2010/07/laurin-found-dead-in-jail-cell.html
 
2nd Defendant pleads guilty to 2nd degree murder.
Darren Winans, 23, pleaded guilty Monday in court for the deaths of Bob and Ellen Sheldon. . . .

Winans co-defendant, Matthew Laurin, pleaded guilty last July and two days later, killed himself in jail.

The other two witnesses, Winans' girlfriend and her mom, have also died. One of from a drug overdose and the other had no cause of death listed.
http://ozarksfirst.com/fulltext?nxd_id=413026
 

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