Friends of a mid-Missouri murder victim speak out

Last week Zack Jefferson was charged for the 2011 murder of Jon Spurling.

Spurling was found shot to death in his rural home in Harrisburg.

At the time investigators told ABC 17 News, Spurling had walked into a crime happening at his home.

Jon Spurling’s best friend told ABC 17 News he could never wrap his head around the idea of criminals trying to rob Jon’s home and then kill him.

Therefore, he and two other friend’s put their minds together to come up with a way to solve Jon’s murder.

“Jon was a really outgoing guy. He had a vast friend group. He got along with everybody,” said Bill Spires.

Spires and Spurling had been friends for nearly twenty years.

“You have this nagging feeling in the back of your head trying to figure out what happened,” said Spires.

After Spurling’s death Spires told ABC 17 News he felt like he needed to do something.

He and two other friends created a facebook and website page to bring awareness to Jon’s case.

Friends even held events to raise a $5,000 reward for any tip that would solve Jon’s murder.

” A lot of murders in Missouri go unsolved. We didn’t want this to just get swept under the rug,” said Spires.

For three years Jon’s friend’s gathered tips from these sites and worked closely with the Howard County Sheriff’s Department.

Spires told ABC 17 News that he felt the sites helped a lot to generate tips and leads.

“When it comes to find out it was his ex wife’s new husband- it kind of clicked in my head a little bit,” said Spires.

While Spires did not know Zack Jefferson personally he was familiar with his name.

“I wasn’t all that surprised. I knew that he was an initial suspect and with people getting together over the years trying to discuss possible theories he popped up in conversation,” explained Spires.

Spires told ABC 17 News that now he can sleep at night knowing that they are finally seeing justice for Jon.