(KTTS News) – A Billings man has been charged for the death of a man from Lebanon.
The Laclede County Prosecutor has charged Sterling King, 33, of Billings with second-degree murder and second-degree arson for the beating death of Aden Bryant, 62, of Lebanon.
Investigators believe Bryant was killed on July 9. A friend found his body about 100 yards from his mobile home on Oklahoma Drive north of Lebanon two days later.
An autopsy shows that Bryant died from blunt force trauma.
King had been introduced to Bryant, by a friend, during the week of July 4th, shortly after King had come to Lebanon. Bryant allowed King to stay with him at his mobile home in exchange for some work. Bryant accused King of stealing tools and methamphetamine from him and asked a friend to have King removed from the mobile home on Saturday, July 8th. Bryant kept a motorcycle that belonged to King, in retaliation for tools and methamphetamine that King had taken.
Investigators believe King killed Bryant, started the fire to cover up evidence of the murder, and then took Bryant’s truck. King was contacted by a St. Clair County Deputy when he ran out of gas near Osceola on July 10. At that time Bryant’s body had not been located and the truck had not been entered as stolen. The deputy gave King a ride to an acquaintance’s home in St. Clair County. King told his acquaintance he had killed someone in Lebanon.
King was arrested in Springfield on July 12, by Springfield Police Officers, who spotted Bryant’s truck at a Fast N Friendly on Kansas Expressway near Division Street.
King was arrested on a drug charge.
He was later brought to Laclede County for violating an order of protection.
On July 13th he was charged in Christian County for distribution of a controlled substance.
“We received invaluable help from the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office, Springfield Police Department and the Christian County Sheriff’s Office, and Missouri Highway Patrol’s Information Analysis Center,” said Sheriff David Millsap. “The suspect wasn’t in our area long and investigators did a good job connecting the dots in this case. When we started the homicide investigation, we had a nickname of a possible suspect and we were able to put a name to the suspect rather quickly while interviewing local people,” Millsap said. “Obviously, the contact in St. Clair County helped us find someone who the suspect confessed to, and then SPD finding the suspect with the victim’s vehicle was a major turn of events in the investigation.”
King is being held in the Laclede County Jail with no bond.
