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The Major Case Squad held a press conference around 11:30 AM, but released no new information on an Overland murder investigation.

What we do know is 22-year-old Zachariah Anderson was shot to death around 10 last night, just inside the front door of his home. Witnesses told police they saw three or four men running away from Anderson's house.

Police say they will continue to investigate possible motives in the hopes of identifying any suspects.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The mother of a Newtown, Conn., shooting victim is making a deeply personal plea from the White House for all Americans to take action on gun violence.

Francine Wheeler's 6-year-old son, Ben, was killed inside Sandy Hook Elementary School. She's stepping in for President Barack Obama to deliver the president's weekly radio and Internet address. She is the first person to deliver the address other than Obama or Vice President Joe Biden since the two took office in 2009.

Wheeler says thousands of families are drowning in her family's grief and asks for help to do something, in her words, "before our tragedy becomes your tragedy."

In the Republican address, congresswoman Jackie Walorski of Indiana criticizes Obama's budget blueprint as a blank check for more spending and debt.

The standoff that started earlier today in Troy, Missouri, has come to a peaceful resolution.

A woman locked herself in a home after allegedly stabbing a man around 4 AM. Officers tried to talk the woman out of her house and KSDK reports that she was taken into custody around 10:30.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - A man convicted of killing a sports editor in Columbia in 2001 is asking Gov. Jay Nixon for a pardon.

Ryan Ferguson is serving a 40-year prison sentence for murder and robbery in the November 2001 death of Kent Heitholt, a sports editor for the Columbia Daily Tribune.

Ferguson has always maintained his innocence and is also seeking a new trial. Co-defendant Charles Erickson is serving a 25-year prison sentence.

Ferguson's attorney, Kathleen Zellner, says her client is innocent and she is gathering new evidence against another possible suspect.

Nixon's spokesman, Scott Holste, says the governor has never granted a criminal pardon.

The Daily Tribune reports Missouri's Board of Probation and Parole will investigate the case and submit a report to Nixon.

A man was found shot in South County this afternoon.

 

Police say the man was found around 12:30 on Old English Road near the River Des Peres. The victim was taken to the hospital in unknown condition.

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Police in St. Louis are searching for five men after a woman was killed during a robbery.

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The crime happened Monday night. Police say 39-year-old Glenda Jackson and two others were robbed at gunpoint by five assailants. One of the suspects shot Jackson in the chest as she tried to take back the stolen property.

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The suspects ran from the scene. Jackson was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

NEW LONDON, Mo. (AP) - Authorities in the northeast Missouri town of New London are searching for the man who shot a child with a blow gun.

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The Hannibal Courier-Post reports that the incident happened Monday. The boy, who is about 10, had a tetanus shot and is OK.

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Police Chief Brad Sanders says two boys were walking along a street when a pickup truck approached. Someone inside the truck fired a dart, about 3-4 inches long, and it struck one of the boys in the arm.

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The weather was cold and Sanders says the boy's heavy coat prevented more serious injury.

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The boys ran to Casey's General Store where store manager Arlene Hudson tended to the injury until emergency crews arrived.

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. (AP) - A northeast Missouri man charged with killing and dismembering his neighbor could enter a plea next week.

Forty-nine-year-old Paul Potter of Kirksville will be arraigned April 2 on first-degree murder and other charges in the January death of 74-year-old Willis Edward Meredith.

Prosecutors say Potter stabbed Meredith, dismembered his body and set fires to conceal the crime. He also allegedly threw the victim's arms at witnesses shortly before he was arrested.

Potter waived his preliminary hearing last Thursday, sending the case to the Adair County Circuit Court.

The Kirksville Daily Express reports that a court order prevents attorneys from discussing the case with the media.

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Nearly a year after a man was shot to death in St. Louis' Ville neighborhood, two men are facing murder charges.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 20-year-old Ralph Alexander and 25-year-old Dontrell Sanders are both charged with first-degree murder and other charges. Both are jailed, Alexander without bail and Sanders on $250,000 cash-only bail.

Authorities say the men were involved in a drive-by shooting on April 5, then another shooting about four minutes later. Police say 47-year-old Tracy Jones died as he sat in a car in the second shooting. A 56-year-old woman survived a wound to the thigh.

Charges are filed for a fatal stabbing on Laclede's Landing on March 10.

Darael Fentress faces multiple charges after police say he stabbed Kyle Roberts during an argument. Roberts was taken to the hospital where he died in the early morning of March 10. Fentress ran away from the scene, but was arrested later than night.