Man arrested in connection with 2017 Moberly homicide

MOBERLY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A suspect in the 2017 homicide of a Moberly man has been arrested in Illinois.

The Moberly Police Department with assistance from law enforcement agencies in Illinois and the US Marshall Service reportedly took John Fitzgerald Tucker, 57, into custody.

A Randolph County prosecutor has charged Tucker with first-degree murder.

Tucker allegedly shot and killed Christopher James with a .22 caliber bullet on Feb. 2, 2017, at the Sherwood Glen Apartment Complex on the 1000 block of S Williams in Moberly.

According to a probable cause statement, James was found underneath a stairwell of building three with a gunshot wound. James's girlfriend lived at an apartment in the building and so did Tucker.

James's girlfriend told police that she was in a sexual relationship with Tucker and that she owned a .22 revolver, according to court documents.

The girlfriend said that James had called her and told her he was coming over but Tucker told her to go inside and he left to check for James in the parking lot. The girlfriend left her apartment and could hear James say twice "You're just going to have to shoot me then John" then she heard a gunshot and saw Tucker running from the area, according to court documents.

On Feb. 2 in a post-Miranda interview, Tucker told police that he was at the girlfriend's residence and that there was no reason for him to have gunshot residue on him. Moberly police reported Tucker's white shirt tested positive for gunshot residue.

The Moberly Police Chief, Troy Link, told ABC 17 that they never stopped investigating the the 2017 murder of Christopher James.

"We ran out of leads pretty quickly in our initial end of it, and essentially, it was a cold case." said Link. "We've had contact with folks, we've had information come in, and recently new information came in that allowed us to, what we believe gave us enough information to apply for a warrant." 

Link said that the Moberly Police Department is glad that they are able to put this 5 year cold case to rest. "It's great because now we don't have an unsolved homicide hanging over our heads." said Link.

A Randolph County judge signed a no bond warrant.

Tucker is being held in the Macon County Ill. detention facility pending an extradition hearing.