By Jeff Lehr
jlehr@joplinglobe.com
NEVADA, Mo. — A trio of Vernon County men, suspected of kidnapping a New Jersey pet store owner and driving him to Missouri at gunpoint, may have targeted the wrong man — again.
All the details of the bizarre story have yet to come out, but three men described as “bumbling idiots” by the Vernon County sheriff were taken into custody and their captive was rescued after their car broke down Saturday at Lake Ozark.
Authorities say the suspects early Friday snatched Jeffrey Muller, 59, from a parking lot outside his pet store in Newton, N.J., and took him on a 1,200-mile ride to Missouri. Along the way, Muller was bound, beaten, tortured with a stun gun and threatened with a pistol, authorities say.
It now appears to investigators that Muller’s ordeal was a case of mistaken identity, and it may not have been the first time the suspects made such a mistake.
“We’re looking at them for a home invasion here that happened in November,” Vernon County Sheriff Ron Peckman said in a phone interview Monday.
Arrested at Lake Ozark when a convenience store clerk observed Muller struggling with his captors and called 911 were: Douglas Strangeland, 46, of Nevada; and Lonnie E. Swarnes, 44, and his nephew, Andrew Wadel, 21, both of Rich Hill.
Peckman said all three men are known to local law enforcement, and one already had become a suspect in the home invasion in northern Vernon County. Three armed men broke into the home of Charles Scammell, president of a construction company in Kansas City, and shot Scammell in the hand.
“They were looking for a man named Muller then,” Peckman told the Globe.
The sheriff said investigators believe the suspects may have gotten the wrong home in November and the wrong man this weekend.
He said the suspects appear to have had “a business dealing” with a man named Muller whom they did not know by sight. There is reason to believe that the Muller they were seeking moved to New Jersey recently, the sheriff said. But he then apparently moved to another state, and the suspects were not aware of that, he said.
Strangeland, Swarnes and Wadel are believed to have gone to New Jersey specifically to locate the other Muller and mistakenly decided the pet shop owner was their man, Peckman said.
The police chief in Newton, N.J., said Monday by phone that the suspects approached Muller as he arrived to open his store Friday morning and asked if he was Jeff Muller. When he told them he was, they told him that he was coming with them, the police chief said.
A struggle ensued during which the victim was shot with a stun gun. As his abductors drove away with him, they falsely told him that they were holding his wife captive at the couple’s home, according to the police chief. Muller reportedly suffered black eyes and bruises from rough treatment by his captors.
Muller was reported missing by his wife when she went to the pet store later Friday and discovered the store locked and her husband not there. His eyeglasses and lunch were found by police on the parking lot.
In Missouri, Muller drew the attention of the store clerk when he managed to free his hands and run from his abductors as two of them entered the store to buy products to repair their car, Lake Ozark police said.
Peckman declined to say what sort of business deal the men had with the Muller they were seeking, except to say that it did not involve drugs. He said they apparently were bringing Muller to Vernon County. He declined to say what they intended to do with him once they arrived.
Strangeland operates a vending machine business in Nevada, Peckman said
Extradition
New Jersey authorities are seeking the extradition of three Missouri men being held in the Miller County Jail at Lake Ozark. They are accused of kidnapping and beating a pet store owner they appear to have mistaken for another man.
