MO Trooper murdered

[SPIPER]

Trooper Bobbie Harper was an old friend of mine.


Hard-Working Trooper Gunned Down

Sgt. Carl GrahamSgt. Carl Graham was described as a great guy and a hard-working trooper with the Missouri Highway Patrol. Now, his brothers-in-arms are looking for his killer.

At about 5:15pm on Sunday, March 20, 2005, a passer-by noticed Graham laying outside his rural home in Van Buren, Missouri. Upon closer inspection, the resident realized that Graham had been shot to death. Evidence at the scene suggests that Graham was shot as he was unloading his work equipment from the trunk of his car after a day's work.

Sgt. Graham is survived by his parents and his four-year-old son.


"The evidence suggests at this point that this was not a crazy person out there who's shooting folks at random." -- Sgt. Marty Elmore, Missouri Highway Patrol
Duty-Related Death

Missouri State Highway Patrol Troopers searching for clues into the death of their fallen brother.Sgt. Graham was known by his colleagues as a good cop who took a firm stand against DWI. He made plenty of arrests for DWI and according to Sgt. Graham's father, the cop had recently made an arrest involving a local drug ring.

Even though Graham was at home when the shooting took place, investigators label this execution as a "duty-related death." Therefore, they are working under the impression that the shooter is someone who'd been arrested by or had legal run-ins with Sgt. Graham.


Similarities To Another Shooting?

Graham's killing is similar to a shooting from 1994 believed to have been committed by Timothy Coombs.Some reports are suggesting a lot of similarities between the killing of Sgt. Carl Graham and the attempted murder of Trooper Bobbie Harper back in September of 1994. Harper survived the shooting only to die years later. His death was not a direct result of the shooting. Since that shooting, cops have been looking for Timothy Coombs, the man they believe shot Trooper Harper.

While cops say there are certain similarities between the two cases, they doubt Coombs had any involvement in the murder of Sgt. Graham.

[SPIPER]

Accused Cop Killer Is Behind Bars
All along, investigators in Missouri suspected Sgt. Carl Graham's execution was not a random act. Sgt. Graham was a hard-nosed cop who was tough on crime. So it only made sense to think the killer was someone who'd run afoul of the law and had to deal with him. Now, they say, that man is Lance Shockley.

Last Thanksgiving, investigators say Shockley was the driver in a one-car crash where his pickup truck flipped. The passenger in the car was killed and investigators say Shockley fled the scene. Sgt. Graham was the investigator that handled that case.

Once Graham was found murdered and troopers looked into who would want him dead, their eyes landed on Shockley. Last week, Shockley was taken into custody and is now cooling his heels in the Cape County Jail in Cape Girardeau, Missouri on charges stemming from the car accident. He faces a first degree murder charge and an armed criminal action charge.

According to an affidavit from the Carter County Court, investigators also connected Shockley to Graham's death after learning the suspect had asked for directions to the Sergeant's house. Investigators say Graham was killed on the same day Shockley asked for the directions.

There's another clue that helped police crack this case. The affidavit states Shockley borrowed his grandma's red Pontiac Grand Am on the afternoon of March 20. Apparently, the red car caught some witnesses' attention. That's because a handful of people told police they noticed a car fitting a similar description parked on a secluded gravel road that same afternoon. The road was just a few hundred feet from Graham's home.


The Investigation Continues
Even though Shockley is behind bars, Missouri police aren't resting. They say there's still work to do.

"This is still an ongoing investigation," said Marty Elmore with the Missouri State Highway Patrol. "We don't consider it a closed case yet. We're still interviewing and reinterviewing."

With that said, police still want anyone with information to call them.

[nmfire]

It's too bad he was arrested still alive. Now we have to pay for this waste of oxygen to go to court and be in prison too.