Police initially concluded suspect had left town. Later tracked him through his mobile phone to a house in Fayette

Fayette Police Chief Jeff Oswald (wearing glasses) and Howard County Sheriff’s Deputy Brian Sollars (wearing hat) lead Alfredo Demario Hicks, Jr. from a Missouri State Highway Patrol vehicle into the Howard County Jail shortly after 9 p.m. on Dec. 31.

The man who eluded law enforcement in Fayette for more than 24 hours is now facing a murder charge. Alfredo Demario Hicks, Jr., 21, was arrested on New Year’s Eve and charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the shooting death of John Lamar Turner, 29, that took place on Dec. 30. 

A probable cause statement filed by Fayette Police Chief Jeff Oswald alleges that Hicks, Jr. shot Turner in the head with a .380 handgun during a possible drug deal while the two were riding in Turner’s car on Hackberry Street in Fayette around 1:15 p.m. Oswald said he responded to a call about a possible shooting. When he arrived on scene, he observed Turner’s blue Toyota sedan, as well as someone running away from the vehicle.

Oswald said he was unable to catch the person running from the vehicle and checked out the car where he found Turner dead, allegedly from a gunshot wound to the head.

Multiple law enforcement agencies responded including the Howard County Sheriff’s Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, and the Boonville Police Department. Deputies from the Boone County Sheriff’s Department processed the crime scene. Later, Chief Oswald activated the Mid-Missouri Major Crimes Task Force to help locate the victim. A helicopter as well as K-9 units were deployed in the search during the afternoon hours of Dec. 30.

Officers initially thought the suspect had left town. Howard County Sheriff Mike Neal told reporters that he had been seen getting into a vehicle. Law enforcement investigators worked the scene until after dark. Eventually, the car–with the victim still inside–was taken to an indoor facility owned by Korte’s Towing and Recovery in Glasgow. Turner’s body was later turned over to Friemonth-Freese Funeral Home.

Ultimately, police were able to locate Hicks Jr. using his mobile phone. Howard County Dispatch obtained records from the victim’s phone. “I noticed a phone number that was texting back and forth with the victim,” Oswald wrote in the probable cause statement. One of those texts occurred right around the time of the shooting. It was later determined the number belonged to a mobile phone registered to Hicks, Jr. 

Alfredo Demario Hicks, Jr.’s mugshot appeared on the Sheriff’s website shortly after he was booked into the jail.

During the afternoon of Dec. 31, officers “pinged” Hicks, Jr.’s phone. His location was determined to be at one of two possible residences on South Park in Fayette. Officers knocked on the doors of two houses, neither of which were answered. According to the probable cause statement, a short while later, two people who reside at 208 South Park arrived at the home by car. After speaking with officers, one of them entered the residence, and then brought out Hicks Jr. He was taken into custody by Oswald and Howard County Sheriff’s Deputy Brian Sollars.

Oswald obtained permission to search the residence where he found Hick’s Jr.’s mobile phone. After Hick’s Jr. gave consent to search the phone, officers found that searches on Google had been made for if “.380 ammo can be traced by law enforcement,” and “if it was better to shoot a .380 pistol close up or far away.”

Hicks, Jr. during an interview with police confessed to investigator Tony Perkins and Deputy Sollars that he was meeting Turner to buy marijuana and that he shot him in the head during the transaction with a .380 handgun. Police will not say if the murder weapon has been recovered.

Hicks, Jr., currently faces charges of first-degree murder and armed criminal action. He is being held without bond in the Howard County Jail.

Judge Mason Gebhardt wrote that bond was denied based on the nature and circumstances of the offenses charged and the weight of the evidence against Hicks, Jr. “It is the Court’s opinion that the Defendant poses a grave danger to community safety and is a significant flight risk,” the judge wrote.

Hicks, Jr., appeared in Howard County Court on Friday morning, represented by public defender Robert Fleming, and waived formal arraignment. He is due back in court Jan. 28 for a preliminary hearing setting.

Law enforcement K-9 unites were deployed during the manhunt Dec. 30.

Hicks, Jr., does not have a long history of criminal activity in Missouri. He pleaded guilty in 2018 in Boone County for operating a vehicle on a highway without a valid license, a Class D Misdemeanor for which he paid a fine of $150. He was reportedly living with relatives in an apartment on West Davis Street in Fayette at the time of the murder.

Turner, however, has an extensive criminal history in this state, but has no known ties to Fayette. He was a resident of Poplar Bluff, Mo., but was believed to more recently be living in nearby Columbia, Mo. Online court records show a string of convictions dating back to December 2009 when he plead guilty and paid a fine for misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

Turner in 2011 was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he pleaded guilty to resisting arrest. He spent 10 days in jail later in 2011 for driving with a revoked license and resisting arrest. In 2015, he pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct and was handed a suspended sentence of one year in the county jail, but served two years unsupervised probation. In 2017 an order of protection was placed against him in Boone County.

More recently he entered a guilty plea for drug possession in Scott County and was again given a suspended sentence of five years in the Missouri Department of Corrections and was to serve five years of supervised probation.

In August of 2019, Turner was charged with invasion of privacy, a Class E Felony, in Butler County and a warrant was issued for his arrest. According to a report by KFVS, a CBS-affiliated television station in Cape Girardeau, Mo., Turner was accused of taking inappropriate photos of women at a Poplar Bluff Walmart, one of whom was 13 years old.

Although the investigation is still ongoing, there remain questions regarding the motive for the alleged crime. It is unknown if the killing resulted from a drug deal gone wrong, or if the proposed drug deal was simply a ruse to lure in the victim, especially given the internet searches made on Hicks, Jr.’s phone the previous day. The amount of marijuana in the alleged drug deal has not been made public, nor has any information regarding the gun used to kill Turner.

The punishment for someone convicted of first-degree murder is life without parole, or the death penalty. In Missouri, a life sentence is 30 years in prison.

Missouri is one of 29 states in the U.S. that still has the death penalty. Howard County Prosecuting Attorney Deborah Riekhof said that while the death penalty is not off the table, it is still quite early in the prosecution of the case. She has sent a letter to Gov. Mike Parson asking the state Attorney General’s office to assist in the prosecution.