NEWS RELEASE

For further information please contact: Sergeant Brent J. Bernhardt
(660)385-2132
B08035
March 25, 2008

EMPHASIS: Investigation Rules Ralls County Death A Suicide


On January 5, 2008, the Ralls County Sheriff’s Department was called to a residence in rural New London, Missouri, regarding a death investigation. Upon arrival, officers found that John T. Elzea, 43, had died inside his residence of a single gunshot wound to the chest. Members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control and Ralls County Coroner Woody St. Clair were summoned to the scene to assist with the investigation. As a result of an autopsy of Elzea’s body and forensic testing done on evidence collected at the scene, the gunshot wound was determined to be self-inflicted.
The Ralls County Sheriff’s Department was assisted by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Ralls County Coroner Woody St. Clair, the Boone/Callaway County Medical Examiner’s Office, and the Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Laboratory in Jefferson City, Missouri.
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