81-year old man ruled incompetent to stand trial in wife’s death

A judge has found a mid-Missouri man incompetent to stand trial in the shooting death of his wife.

A Randolph County judge on Wednesday ordered that 81-year-old Vernon Head be taken into the custody of the Missouri Department of Mental Health indefinitely.

The 81-year-old Head was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of his wife, 77-year-old Vickye Head, at their home in Moberly.

Court documents said authorities found Vickye with multiple gunshot wounds, and noticed a blood stain on Vernon’s shirt. They also found a gun in his car with blood on it.

The Randolph County Coroner Gerald Luntsford said Head has dementia.

Court records say Head went to a Hunstville bank on Dec. 5 and told an employee his wife had been shot in the head and was dead. He asked a bank employee to call the sheriff’s department and he was taken into custody.