By Jeff Lehr
jlehr@joplinglobe.com
Preliminary results of an autopsy show that Ralph Ivy died of blunt-force trauma to his head and chest, according to the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department.
Ivy, 50, died Wednesday night at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin a short time after a 7:15 p.m. fight in which authorities say he was struck with a baseball bat by another man at a home outside the city.
Aaron E. Pilgrim, 37, of rural Joplin, has been charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in connection with Ivy’s death. Pilgrim remained in custody Friday at Jasper County Jail, with his bond set at $100,000.
An eyewitness to the altercation told the Globe that Pilgrim hit Ivy six times in the back of the head with a baseball bat. Ivy’s former girlfriend, Crystal Lynch, 23, said the fight started at her home at 2805 N. Red Fox Road over a misunderstanding between the two men. She said Ivy was playfully chasing her 11-year-old sister inside their house when Pilgrim took exception to Ivy’s behavior and an argument ensued.
Lynch said Ivy pulled out a pocket knife to keep Pilgrim at bay shortly after the argument started. She said the two men then went outside and were scuffling and throwing punches. According to Lynch, Ivy retrieved a baseball bat from inside the home after Pilgrim picked up a broken hoe handle.
Lynch said Ivy swung the bat at Pilgrim, but Pilgrim blocked the blow with the hoe handle. Ivy then dropped the bat and started to walk away, and Pilgrim picked it up and started hitting him with it, she said.
Capt. Derek Walrod of the Sheriff’s Department declined Friday to confirm or deny various aspects of Lynch’s account of the fight. He did answer a few related questions.
“We seized several items of evidence,” Walrod said.
Included among them were a baseball bat, a knife and another object possibly used in the fight, he said.
“It was not a hoe handle,” Walrod said. “But it was something I would consider similar.”
He said the knife was not a pocket knife, but declined to describe it in detail other than to say that he did not believe it had a folding blade. He also declined to say if either man had been injured with the knife.
Walrod conceded that preliminary results of an autopsy conducted Thursday in Springfield did not mention any stab wounds on Ivy. But investigators will not be receiving the final autopsy report for several weeks, and Walrod indicated that he did not wish to speculate at this time about what findings it might contain with respect to wounds.
Investigators believe the fight first became physical while the two men were still inside the home, he said. He said it moved outside from there. He would not discuss the number of blows that Ivy sustained to his head and his chest, or if Pilgrim sustained any wounds or injuries.
