Stories from Thursday, January 27, 2022

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. — A Stoddard County grand jury returned a no true bill in a Dexter death investigation. No true bill is a legal procedure to dismiss charges against a defendant when the grand jury does not find enough evidence to charge the defendant with violating a law...

SIKESTON — The Sikeston R-6 Board of Education reviewed the district’s facility condition assessment and approved upgrades, and it also awarded the bid to purchase new high school fitness and weight room equipment during Tuesday’s special session at Central Office...

A Scott County prosecutor said this week three law enforcement entities are providing new focus on a cold case murder. Prosecuting Attorney Amanda Oesch released a statement Monday saying she has enlisted help from state agencies in the 1992 murder of Angela Mischelle Lawless, who was found shot to death in her vehicle near Interstate 55 at the Benton, Missouri, exit. The Southeast Missouri State University nursing student had been shot three times and had suffered a blow to the head...

SIKESTON — Those wanting to get COVID-19 vaccinations will have an opportunity at the YMCA of Southeast Missouri on Feb. 4-5. Heart to Heart International, a Kansas-City based non-profit organization, will provide vaccines for everyone ages 5 and up and boosters for eligible individuals over the age of 12 as well as evidence-based vaccine information...

SIKESTON — First Baptist Church in Sikeston will host an “Ol’ Fashion Singin’” to connect the community spiritually and raise money for Missouri Disaster Relief. The event will be held Sunday at 6 p.m. at the church, located at 1101 N. Main St. “This is an event that brings back the congregational hymn sing,” said Perry Harper, new music minister at FBC. “A gathering of worshippers singing in the southern gospel style.”...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — While there has been a significant and encouraging response to the dire need for blood across the nation, the American Red Cross needs more people to give in the weeks ahead to recover from its worst blood shortage in more than a decade...

SIKESTON — The Smith Avenue Church of God, 420 Smith Avenue, has a new youth ministry center. The church’s youth leaders caught a vision to renovated the church basement into a place for young people to come for fun and ministry. A grand opening was held Sunday, Jan. 16...

Proverbs 14:12- “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” How many have said, they know what they are doing to only discover they go the wrong way and end up hurt or worse. Although there are many, let’s look at five ways a person keeps going and ends up in destruction...

Judith Ann "Judy" Walden Douglas, 85, died Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022, at her home in East Prairie. Arrangements are incomplete at McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston.

Lois Ann Reed, 45, died Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022, at her home in East Prairie. Arrangements are incomplete at McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston.

Shirley Bernice Flye, 85, formerly of Sikeston, died Monday, Jan. 24, 2022, at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Parkridge, Illinois. Arrangements are pending at McMikle Funeral Home in Sikeston.

Barbara Nell Smith, 94, died Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022 in Great Falls, Virginia. Barbara Nell Smith was born in Flint, Michigan, on April 29, 1927 to Earl Raymond Smith and Nell Mariah (Bradley) Smith. In 1948, she graduated from Saints Mary and Elizabeth Nursing School in Louisville, Kentucky, where she met and married her husband, Dr. Audra Byron Smith. She moved to Sikeston with her husband, where she lived and raised her five children...

SIKESTON — Thanks to quick work from Sikeston fire fighters, a woman survived a fire early Thursday morning. According to the Sikeston Department of Public Safety, fire fighters responded to a structure fire at 430 E. Gladys at 12:54 a.m. Thursday, with a report of a trapped subject in the residence...