Aug 21, 2008

An 81-year-old Hartville man has been charged with murder in connection with the death of a neighbor, John Wesley Hamrick, 69. Charles O. Barnes was arraigned in Wright County Associate Circuit Court on Monday, charged with second-degree murder, armed criminal action, and abandonment of a corpse, according to the Mtn. Grove News-Journal. On Friday, Aug. 15, officers from the Wright County Sheriff’s Office, Troop G of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control, and members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Troop D SWAT executed a search warrant at a private residence near Hartville, in conjunction with a missing persons case. At approximately 2 p.m., the partially decomposed body of an adult male was discovered on the property by searching officers. Hamrick was reported missing on Aug. 13. On Aug. 15 his pickup was located on a parking lot in Lebanon. The truck had bullet holes and a large amount of blood in the vehicle, according to reports.