More than five years after the shooting death of a man near Fordland, a Douglas County grand jury has filed first-degree murder charges against Howard J. Applegate.
The 28-year-old Ava resident also faces felony charges of armed criminal action, unlawful use of a weapon, concealing, and endangering the welfare following the October 2017 death of Lance Terrill, 34, whose body was found outside a mobile home near Highway Z around midnight.
Two children were reportedly in the mobile home when authorities arrived, and there were multiple bullet holes in the structure of the residence. It was initially reported in 2017 that a suspect may have fled the state.
Before Applegate was recently indicted for allegedly killing Terrill, a Seymour native, he had been in Douglas County jail for a series of felony charges, including first-degree assault, burglary and tampering with physical evidence.
No other details from the arrest pertaining to a potential motive or previous relationship were made available.