MO MO - Trooper Bobbie Harper, 54, McDonald County, 16 Sept 1994

It was on Sept. 16, 1994, that Harper was standing at the kitchen sink of his rural Anderson residence scooping out ice cream when shot with a high-powered assault rifle. The shot came through the kitchen window, striking the patrol officer in the chest. The wound caused extensive internal damage...

Harper is the only member of the Highway Patrol to have been shot without the suspect being apprehended. While it was not listed as a death in the line of duty, many members of the patrol believe that is how it should be classified. They feel their fellow officer died because he had done his sworn duty...

Authorities believe Harper was shot in retaliation for his role in the arrest of a close friend of Coombs. Both Coombs and the friend are described as radical anti-government white supremacists.

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A McDonald County self-proclaimed pastor was arrested Thursday morning on federal weapons charges in connection with a 2004 bombing in Arizona that injured a black city official. Robert Neil Joos, 56, was charged with being a felon in possession of firearms...

In 1985, Joos was charged with simulating legal process when he attempted to serve a bogus federal injunction on retired trooper Merle Graham to prevent the arrest of Taren Wood, a Joos associate. The following year, a McDonald County jury found Joos guilty of the misdemeanor and he was sentenced to six months in the county jail, plus a $400 fine.

Joos appealed the verdict, but it was upheld by the appellate court, which issued a warrant for Joos’ arrest in 1987. Joos remained at large until June 29, 1994, when two troopers with the Missouri State Highway Patrol — Sgt. Steve Dorsey and the late Cpl. Bobbie Harper — arrested Joos after a scuffle.

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On Monday the FBI announced it would post electronic billboards with photos of Timothy Coombs in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas, advertising a $100,000 reward for information leading to his capture.

Coombs is accused of shooting Missouri Highway Patrol Corporal Bobbie Harper as Harper stood in his kitchen in September of 1994. Harper would survive the shooting, but die 18 months later of a heart condition possibly worsened by the bullet he took from a high powered rifle...

“When its 20 years old, we want the public to know that we're going to continue to investigate it, and we're going to continue to put the resources out there that are necessary to keep reinvigorating the case, because there's someone out there that knows something to this case,” FBI spokesperson Bridget Patton said.

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