Charge upgraded in Miller County murder case

Prosecutors have upgraded charges against a Chicago man accused in a Miller County murder case.

The second-degree murder charge against Joseph P. McKenna, 26, was dropped Wednesday and a new first-degree murder charge and a witness tampering charge were filed, Miller County Prosecuting Attorney R. Benjamin Winfrey wrote in a press release Monday.

McKenna was arrested in September in connection with the death of Tyler Worthington, 34, whose body was found in a wooded area in Miller County on June 9 after he had been shot to death.

Worthington, who was from California, disappeared while he and McKenna were in Missouri to sell marijuana or oil from the plant, according to documents filed in McKenna’s case. The new charges were filed after Missouri State Highway Patrol investigators found McKenna had made statements about killing Worthington before Worthington’s death, according to a probable cause statement filed in the new case.

McKenna conspired with Tyler M. Kroll of Lisle, Illinois, to murder Worthington, according to the statement, luring Worthington out of California to Missouri to commit the crime. The statement says McKenna also threatened a witness who had talked to police.

Kroll was arrested in March in the Chicago area and brought back to Miller County on suspicion of first-degree murder. He was being held in the Miller County Jail on $750,000 bond.

Sign up for email news alerts by clicking here