Alfredo Demario Hicks, Jr., who pleaded guilty to the shooting death of a man during a drug deal in December, will spend 35 years behind bars. The sentence was handed down by Judge Scott Hayes Wednesday afternoon in Howard County Court.

Hicks pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, armed criminal action, witness tampering, and receiving stolen property in August. On Wednesday, Oct. 7, he was sentenced to 20 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections for the charge of second-degree murder, and another 15 years for the charge of armed criminal action. The two sentences are to run consecutively. For witness tampering and receiving stolen property, Hicks will serve seven years in prison on each charge. Those sentences are to be served concurrently, which means at the same time as the other charges.

Hicks sat silently beside his attorney, public defender Robert Fleming, as the sentence was pronounced.

Judge Hayes said that the facts of the case indicate the murder was premeditated. He took that, as well as community standards, into account when considering the sentence, he explained.

“I’m thankful we’re not in a community where this is commonplace,” stated Judge Hayes.

Prior to the pronouncement of sentence, Judge Hayes held a short dialog with Mr. Hicks. “You shot him,” the judge asked, to which Mr. Hicks replied, “Yes.”

“Was it an accident?” asked Judge Hayes.

“No,” said Mr. Hicks, matter-of-factly.

“Are you guilty of murdering him,” asked the judge. Mr. Hicks once again replied with just one word: “Yes.”

Hicks, now 22, was arrested Dec. 31, the day after he admittedly shot John Turner in the head while making a marijuana purchase. The shooting took place inside Turner’s blue Toyota Corolla on Hackberry Street in Fayette. According to testimony at a March 3, 2020, probable cause hearing, moments after the shooting, Hicks then threatened Turner’s girlfriend, who was in the car at the time of the murder, and warned her not to speak to police. He then fled the scene. A manhunt ensued involving officers from the Fayette Police Department, Howard County Sheriff’s Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, and the Boone County Sheriff’s Department.

Boone County Sheriff’s detective Anthony Perkins testified during the March 3 hearing that Hicks admitted during an interview in the Howard County Jail that he “killed” Turner. In that interview, Hicks said he shot Turner in the head with a small black Smith & Wesson .380 handgun.

Initially, Hicks told investigators that he had thrown the gun, along with the pants he was wearing at the time of the murder, into a lake. However, during an interview the following day, he admitted that the gun was actually hidden inside clothing between an air mattress and a wall at the residence in which he was staying on West Davis Street in Fayette. That’s where police recovered the gun.

Det. Perkins told the court that Hicks had admitted to stealing the gun from a vehicle at a used car lot in Fayette weeks prior to the murder.

Audrain County Sheriff’s Detective William Femrite who performed an extraction of data from Mr. Hicks’s mobile phone said on it he found internet searches for “can police trace .380 bullets,” whether it is better to “shoot a .380 close up or far away,” and “how to teach yourself to drive.” Another search query just six hours after the killing asked how much prison time a person would receive for a homicide. Hicks also searched the internet for how to drive a car, and the location of turn signals are on a Toyota car, according to testimony. 

Femrite also told the court during the hearing in March that during a Facebook chat, allegedly between Hicks and another man, Hicks, using the social media alias “HGE Mario,” admitted that he “killed someone.” Hicks’s middle name is Demario.

 Howard County Prosecuting Attorney Deborah Riekhof praised local law enforcement’s response to the homicide and their thorough investigation, which ultimately led to a speedy conviction. Fayette Police Chief Jeff Oswald led the investigation with assistance from the Howard County Sheriff, Missouri State Highway Patrol, East Central Missouri Drug Task Force, and Mid-Missouri Major Case Squad, which included officers from Howard, Audrain, Boone, Callaway, and Cooper counties.

Riekhof requested assistance from the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, which opened up resources to the county that it would not otherwise have in prosecuting such a serious crime, explained Mrs. Riekhof. 

“I want to thank the Missouri Attorney General’s Office for its assistance in this case, particularly Assistant Attorney General Melissa Pierce and her team,” says Prosecutor Riekhof. “A crime of this nature requires every resource we can obtain to ensure the safety of our community as well as justice for the victims.”

Turner is not local to Howard County. He hailed from southeast Missouri and was last known to be living in nearby Columbia. He was allegedly selling drugs as a side business, and Hicks was a frequent customer.

During the sentencing Wednesday, Fleming argued prior to the pronouncement of sentence that Hicks thought Turner was going for a gun. No gun other than the one wielded by Hicks, however, was ever recovered.

Assistant Attorney General Melissa Pierce disagreed and stated that evidence points to the murder as being premeditated. “This was not just a drug deal gone bad,” she told the court.

Pierce posited that text messages between Hicks and Turner suggested that Hicks likely thought he had been “shorted” during previous marijuana purchases. In addition, Hicks asked Turner to meet him at an abandoned house and, through text messages, attempted to coax him inside. Following the murder, Mr. Hicks took Ashayla Foster, who was in the car at the time of the murder, into the abandoned house and threatened her not to talk to police.

Sentiments from four members of Turner’s family were heard by the court Wednesday. In a written statement John Turner Sr., the victim's father, said he wanted to know why his son was murdered. He contended that the victim was not violent, and was the father of four children. He asked the court to impose a life sentence.

Rosetta Falkner, Mr. Turner’s mother, made a tearful statement before the court. She told Mr. Hicks, “you hurt so many lives for nothing…for drugs.” She also asked the court to give Mr. Hicks a life sentence.