By Jeff Lehr
jlehr@joplinglobe.com
Hearings for two men charged with the murders of Robert and Ellen Sheldon have been reset for Aug. 5 in the Associate Division of Jasper County Circuit Court in Joplin.
Darren J. Winans, 21, of rural Jasper, and Matthew D. Laurin, 19, of Springfield, are to appear before Associate Judge Richard Copeland. The hearings were to have been conducted Wednesday morning but were rescheduled.
Winans and Laurin are charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action and a single count of burglary in the Oct. 11, 2008, slayings of the couple inside their home west of Carthage. Winans also is facing a charge in the theft of a rifle from the Sheldons’ Old Cabin Shop next to their home a couple of weeks before the murders.
Frank Yankoviz, a public defender currently representing Winans, told the Globe that attorneys from the state public defender’s office in Nevada will be replacing local public defenders in the case because of the first-degree murder charges the defendants are facing.
The state could seek the death penalty. But Jasper County Prosecutor Dean Dankelson said it is too early for a decision on that matter. Neither defendant has had a preliminary hearing as yet.
Detective Kevin Mitchell of the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department on Wednesday said the investigation of the murders remains active.
“We are right now preparing all the documentation for the prosecutor’s office, for the court,” Mitchell said.
He said the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s violent-crimes unit in its Division of Drug and Crime Control has provided valuable assistance in that regard.
Mitchell, the lead detective in the case, said leads in the Sheldon case continue to pour in. He said there has been a high level of public interest, and that people continue to provide information to investigators that requires checking out.
“Whether anonymous or not, we’re going to follow up on all the leads we do get,” he said.
In custody
Both defendants remain in custody at the Jasper County Jail with no bond amounts set.
