Police reveal evidence of theft at the home where University of Missouri employee was found dead

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia Police are sharing new evidence of a theft investigation at the home where a University of Missouri employee was shot to death in 2021.

James Hundle was assistant to the vice chancellor and dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri when he was killed. He was also an adviser to the agricultural fraternity Alpha Gamma Rho.

Officers found the 52-year-old dead with a gunshot wound in the 4800 block of Marble Cedars Drive on the morning of Oct. 13, 2021. CPD criminal investigator Lt. Matt Gremore said an associate of Hundle's had called for medical help.

"He was found basically in an unconscious state. So they did not know if he was deceased or alive at the time that the caller made the call," Gremore said. "It was very vague. It was unknown circumstances of what had happened."

Gremore said the caller found police when they arrived and led them to where he had been found.

"I can't get into the exact injuries that he had, but I can tell you he was found deceased," Gremore said.

Gremore later said Hundle was shot, but would not say how many times or if any casings and a gun were recovered. Police found that it was not a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Gremore.

However, a homicide was not the only thing they would end up discovering. An incident report obtained by ABC 17 News through a records request showed police were also investigating a theft. Gremore would not say what exactly was taken, but said the items were not guns or money.

"There were some items taken from the home. I'll just say personal items," Gremore said.

In 2021, a subpoena obtained by ABC 17 News showed that police had requested information from Tiger Security Services the day after Hundle was found dead. The request asked the company for "all sensor activations, arm and disarm of the security system" from Oct. 6 to Oct. 14.

Police at the time did not say whether anything was found in the security system data or the significance of the time frame provided. Gremore declined to discuss those details for this story, as well.

Gremore singled out three dates in that week they believe could be crucial to finding answers -- Oct. 11-13.

"Anybody that had any conversations [with Hundle] from Oct. 11 through the 13th could be very beneficial," Gremore said.

Ring doorbell footage was also collected from houses in the neighborhood, Gremore said. Police were searching for more information about a car in the preliminary days of the investigation, but Gremore would not say if it is believed to be a suspect vehicle or give any identifying details.

Hundle also owned Ruckus Bar and Grill and Splasher's Laundromat in Columbia for several years. Both businesses have since changed hands.

"That's a contact for us to have someone to talk to to see if he had problems with anybody, if there was any history there that we don't know about," Gremore said. "So that just leads you to another lead to investigate"

Gremore said the most beneficial discovery would be knowing the last person Hundle had contact with before his death.

Dylan Boling, a mentee of Hundle's, remembered the day he heard the news. He had just graduated and moved away months prior. Boling said Hundle hadn't shown up to work, raising concerns for those working with him.

"My good friend Isaiah was working for Hundle," Boling said. "I remember Isaiah calling me, and I was in my office at our home at that time, and he told me that he was, he was gone, and he was killed, and there was little to no details about it."

Boling was a member of the fraternity from 2017 to 2021 and served on the executive team for two years, where he described Hundle working as his "right-hand man." Boling described his relationship with Hundle growing into a friendship over time.

"He wasn't a harsh person by any means; he was very soft-natured," Boling said. "He taught me a lot of good lessons. He would always keep you in check, and he had a good way about doing it."

Boling did not know Hundle to have any enemies, but said his friend did not tend to share details of his personal life.

"That's why this didn't make a lot of sense when it happened and still doesn't to this day; it's like, why him?" Boling said.

Gremore said police don't know the perpetrator's motivation for killing Hundle.

"Only the killer knows the motivation, whether it was something they had planned versus something that had just kind of gotten out of control," Gremore said.

Through the last five years, Gremore said, hundreds of people have been interviewed in connection with this investigation. Gremore said police have persons of interest in the case, but would not say how many.

Boling said police never talked to him about Hundle, but he thinks the conversation with him and other previous members of the fraternity could potentially help the investigation.

"There was probably a front that we knew that, you know, he kind of kept there, but anything that we can help with, maybe it clicks an idea on something else. Who knows?" Boling said.

In the aftermath of his death, Boling said Hundle left pretty big shoes to fill.

"I knew it was going to affect a lot of people," Boling said. "We've never really had a steady adviser since then. I've stepped in the advisor role, and some others have, and in time just trying to fill the gap, but it's hard to really fill those shoes fully."

Even with the adviser role filled, members of the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity continue to remember Hundle and the legacy he left behind.

"He had these [bull horns] in his office, and those are in the fraternity house now, today," Boling said.

Watch "Mid Missouri's Cold Case Files: The Murder of James Hundle" at 6 p.m. on KMIZ.