Audrain County teen charged with premeditated murder in Vandalia-area shooting
VANDALIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
An Audrain County teen was charged Friday with first-degree murder in the shooting of a man found dead on a county road.
Christopher D. Brickey, 18, of Laddonia was charged with armed criminal action, as well, in the death of a person identified only as a "victim" in court documents, later identified as Matthew Stewart.
Audrain County Prosecutor Jacob Shellabarger said Friday morning that charges against the suspect could be filed by the end of the day. They appeared in online court records a little after 2:30 p.m.
Shellabarger later identified Stewart in a Facebook post and said that a 17-year-old was also in the custody of juvenile authorities.
A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday morning and Brickey is being held without bond.
A 23-year-old man was found dead with gunshot wounds Thursday afternoon on County Road 556.
The Audrain County Sheriff's Office stated in a Facebook post that an investigation led to "persons of interest being identified, who have been located."
A bond recommendation document says Brickey and an unnamed co-defendant -- the 17-year-old -- planned the victim's murder. Brickey and the juvenile drove the victim to the murder scene, shot the victim, then drove away, the document says.
They fired multiple shots, the document says.
Shellabarger said the motive was robbery -- the robbers wanted the victim's gun -- along with a feud between the victim and a shooter's family member, the sheriff's office said Friday in a news release.
Deputies searched Brickey's home in Paris, Missouri, around noon Friday and found the murder weapon and the gun taken from the victim, the release says.
A witness told investigators that Brickey, the juvenile and Stewart met for a transaction with the gun and the two took Stewart to "range test" the gun, according to a probable cause statement. The witness, Stewart's roommate, later got a call from Stewart saying "They shot me," the document says.
Brickey allegedly admitted to shooting Stewart with a .45-caliber handgun along with the juvenile.
Van-Far Schools went on a "soft lockdown" due to the location of the incident, but there was no threat to the schools, officials said.
