Court documents: Man admits to Cole County murder

The man accused of killing Jon Williams, who went missing in November 2015, admitted that he killed Williams and buried his body, according to court documents filed Monday.

Sandy R. Gallaspie admitted to police that he killed Williams and buried the body on Bess Hill Road, according to a probable cause statement. The Cole County Sheriff’s Office arrested Gallaspie in connection with a previous theft warrant. It was then that he admitted to the killing, court documents said.

Gallaspie was charged with abandonment of a corpse. The sheriff’s office said in a news release that Gallaspie was arrested Saturday in the 5700 block of Foxfire Lane.

The sheriff’s office was originally alerted to the location of the human remains after a Cole County Jail inmate told authorities where a body was buried.

The inmate told a Cole County detective that he knew where a body was buried after the person was shot and killed, according to court documents. Authorities searched a home in the 2700 block of Bess Hill Road, and a cadaver dog alerted them to human remains in the area.

The inmate then gave authorities a more specific location, and authorities were able to recover a nearly complete human skeleton. The remains were sent to the University of Missouri Medical Examiner’s Office for analysis and identification.

The inmate told police he helped Sandy Ray Gallaspie, 58, bury the body of Jon Williams after Gallaspie allegedly shot the person in the chest and drug him from a car that was driven by his ex-wife, Suzanne J. Ponder, court documents said.

Ponder was arrested and charged in Cole County with abandoning a corpse last week. According to online court records, Ponder was charged in Moniteau County on Monday with conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the 2015 incident.

Gallaspie is facing at least three warrants for his arrest related to three separate criminal cases in Cole and Callaway counties, according to online court records. The Callaway County Sheriff’s Office suspects Gallaspie for break-ins at Callaway County FencePro and a garage near New Bloomfield in 2017. The Jefferson City Police Department accused Gallaspie of receiving stolen property when he allegedly took a stolen chainsaw and climbing equipment from another person that same year.

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