A 17-year-old youth who grew up in Ava was found brutally murdered last week just west of Ava.
Kenny Stout, 17, of Republic, was reported missing on Tuesday, Dec. 13, and family members immediately became concerned because he didn’t answer repeated calls to his cell phone.
Late Wednesday, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office released an announcement regarding the boy’s disappearance, and early Thursday morning his body was found near the Ava Country Club. Information from Texas County led authorities to the body, according to Douglas County Sheriff Chris Degase.
Degase met with news media Thursday afternoon to report that the body had been found. At that time he said three persons of interest were being held for questioning.
Shortly afterwards, Christopher Andy Jorgensen, 29, of Ava, was charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action and abandonment of a corpse. He was arraigned on those charges Friday and ordered held without bond.
Also on Friday, Prosecuting Attorney Roger Wall charged Nathan Jensen, 26, of Seymour, in connection with the murder. Jensen, too, is being held without bond following his arraignment before Associate Circuit Judge Craig Carter Monday afternoon.
Jensen also faces three charges, identical to Jorgensen’s.
Both men are to appear for preliminary hearings on Jan. 3.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol, Wright and Texas County sheriff’s departments and Ava and Mansfield police departments assisted in the investigation which is ongoing.
Additional charges are expected to be filed in Texas County in conjunction with this case, Degase said.
Court records show that Stout’s mother, Marianne Stout, of Republic, formerly of Ava, filed a missing person report on her son on the afternoon of Wednesday, Dec. 14. He was last seen around 4 p.m. Dec. 13, at which time he was going to meet Jensen, also known as “Mace”, at the Casey’s General Store on Highway 14 in Ava.
When Jensen was questioned about Stout he denied knowing the young man. However, officers obtained cell phone records that showed numerous contacts between the two on Dec. 13.
On the evening of Dec. 14, Jensen went to the Texas County Sheriff’s Office and shared information about the murder that he said had occurred in Douglas County.
Jensen told authorities that he and Jorgensen had picked Stout up at the Casey’s Store to do a drug deal. Jorgensen, Jensen and Stout drove out to a dirt road past the golf course in Ava around 11 o’clock Dec. 13. Jorgensen parked the car and told everyone to get out.
Jensen said Jorgensen hit Stout several times in the face, knocking him to the ground, then repeatedly kicked him before hitting him with a ball bat.
Jensen and Jorgensen drug Stout to a brush pile where they left him, still alive.
Jensen told officers that he later drove Jorgensen back to the location where Jorgensen got out of the car and apparently stabbed Stout with a large knife.
The report also shows that the two men drove to Cabool to reportedly burn some of Jorgensen’s clothes. During that time, Jensen said, Jorgensen placed a gun against Jensen’s head and the gun “clicked” twice. Jensen said he suspected Jorgensen was trying to kill him and ran away. He told officers that as he ran away he heard a gunshot.
Court records show Jensen led authorities to the location where Stout’s body was found Thursday morning.
The report says Stout was stabbed seven times in the back, once in the chest, and also had a shallow laceration to the neck, and also showed the result of blunt force trauma.
