By Jeff Lehr

jlehr@joplinglobe.com

The Jasper County sheriff said Friday that the family of a couple slain two months ago inside their home near Carthage has started a reward fund for information leading to a solution of the unsolved double homicide.

The reward fund for the Robert and Ellen Sheldon murders has been set up at United Missouri Bank, 300 Grant St., Carthage. A Sheldon family member provided an undisclosed amount of money to start the fund and donations are being accepted to help it grow, Sheriff Archie Dunn said.

“It would obviously be given to anyone who could give enough information to lead to the arrest and conviction of someone for the murders of Robert and Ellen,” Dunn said.

The idea of raising a reward in the case began being discussed a couple of weeks ago as leads in the case dried up and the murder investigation stalled out. The sheriff said the Jasper County prosecutor thought that if a reward was to be offered, the family of the victims should be involved in establishing it.

People may contribute to the fund by taking donations to the bank during regular business hours or to the Old Cabin Shop that the Sheldons operated at 155 N. Black Powder Lane west of Carthage, which is open on weekends.

The 70-year-old reserve officer with the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department and his 71-year-old wife were discovered murdered inside their home next to the shop the morning of Oct. 12. A son had gone to the home to check on them when they did not show up for a church service.

The sheriff has described the murders as “horrific” but has yet to disclose how the Sheldons were killed or any other details of the crime scene other than to confirm that the couple’s dog also was killed.

Dunn said investigators are still waiting on state crime-lab testing of evidence gathered at the murder scene.

The sheriff said he is beseeching people to call the TIPS line if they have any information regarding this case. “We want to bring the suspect, or suspects, to justice, and give some kind of closure to the family,” he said.

TIPS line