UPDATE: Murder charges filed; names of Avilla homicide victims released

Jeff Lehr, The Joplin Globe, Mo.

Feb. 22—The Jasper County Sheriff's Department has released the names of the two homicide victims whose bodies were discovered Sunday at a residence in Avilla.

The deceased were identified as Mason McClure, 34, a resident of the address, and Nicole Hodges, 34, of Joplin. The sheriff's office said autopsies conducted today determined that McClure and Hodges both died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Kevin C. Johnson, 24, of Reeds, has been charged with the murder of the two. Johnson was charged by the Jasper County prosecutor with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action.

Johnson is the boyfriend of Brylee O'Banion, a 25-year-old Joplin area woman whose body was discovered Saturday afternoon in a ditch near the intersection of State Line Road and Angus Drive in Newton County.

Newton County Sheriff Ken Jennings said that investigators there were looking for McClure and Hodges in connection with the slaying of O'Banion when their deaths were discovered in Avilla. The sheriff referred to McClure and Hodges as persons of interest in O'Banion's murder because she is believed to have been in their company prior to meeting her own death.

Investigators have not said how O'Banion was killed but have indicated that they consider her death a homicide.

Jeff Lehr is a reporter for The Joplin Globe.

Recommended Stories

  • WeWork co-founder Neumann nears settlement with SoftBank - source

    The settlement would put to rest a prolonged legal battle between Neumann and Softbank, which dates back to 2019 when WeWork's IPO plans fell apart. SoftBank had agreed in October 2019 to purchase around $3 billion in WeWork stock belonging to Neumann as well current and former WeWork employees.

  • U.S. Senate advances nomination of Biden U.N. nominee, final vote due Tuesday

    The U.S. Senate voted on Monday to advance the nomination of President Joe Biden's pick to be ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, clearing the way for a vote on her confirmation on Tuesday. Thomas-Greenfield, 68, is a 35-year veteran of the Foreign Service who has served on four continents, most notably in Africa. Thomas-Greenfield and her supporters pushed back, citing her decades as a diplomat seeking to increase U.S. influence and counteract China's.

  • Tshegofatso Pule murder: Boyfriend charged over death of pregnant 28-year-old

    Ntuthuko Ntokozo Shoba is accused of planning Tshegofatso Pule's murder and paying the killer.

  • After police chase near Ocean Drive, 15-year-old driver of stolen vehicle arrested

    Miami Beach Police arrested a 15-year-old boy who they said kicked off a full-blown car chase on South Beach Sunday afternoon.

  • Steelers clear cap space by restructuring Cam Heyward’s deal

    The Steelers are one of many teams with work to do in order to get under the 2021 salary cap and they’ve gotten some of the work done by restructuring the contract of a defensive star. Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the team has converted a large portion of his $10.5 million salary [more]

  • Capitol Police: What we know about the 2 officers suspended, more investigated in DC riots

    Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told House Democrats on Monday that as many as 15 instances of officer misconduct in the Capitol riot are under investigation.

  • 'We get our President or we die': FBI issued dire warning day before Capitol riots; 170 suspects investigated

    The FBI Norfolk office issued a dire internal warning on the day before the Capitol riots that violent extremists were planning an armed uprising.

  • United will still fly the Boeing 777-200 after a scary engine failure in Colorado - but the ones still flying have a different engine

    United has not grounded its entire Boeing 777 fleet and those with General Electric engines will still roam the skies.

  • U.S. surpasses 500,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths

    The United States has now recorded more than 500,000 COVID-19 deaths, data compiled by Johns Hopkins University shows. President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, joined by first lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, will mark the solemn milestone with a moment of silence and a candle-lighting ceremony at the White House at sundown on Monday. Earlier in the day, Biden also ordered that all flags on federal property be lowered to half staff for the next five days to honor the deceased. The United States continues to lead the world in confirmed coronavirus deaths, with slightly more than twice the fatalities recorded by Brazil, home to the globe's second highest death toll. The virus remains a serious public health threat in the U.S. (and across the world), though cases have been declining steadily for weeks now, and vaccinations are ramping up, providing an inkling of hope. More stories from theweek.comMichael Cohen predicts Trump tax investigation will end with jail timeNew York City movie theaters to open for the 1st time in almost a yearResign, Andrew Cuomo

  • Nasdaq, S&P 500 end lower as U.S. yields rise

    The S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell on Monday as higher Treasury yields plus the prospect of rising inflation triggered concerns on Wall Street.The Dow , on the other hand, rose, lifted by Disney which rallied 5%.The S&P and Nasdaq were driven lower by big tech names such as Apple, Amazon and Microsoft, which all dropped at least 2%.Hilary Kramer of Kramer Capital research says investors are looking ahead to a return to normal. "The stock market is going through a major rotation today, we’re looking at the post-pandemic environment. And that’s why we are seeing everything from tire companies merging because there’s expectation of more people on the road and we’re seeing stocks like Caterpillar because there’s an expectation of major projects and our economy is coming back. And we’re seeing this deflating in these 'FANG' stocks that were so long the drivers of the market. We’re in a new era of investing."Other stocks on the move included media company Discovery, which jumped 9.5% after it said it was expecting 12 million global paid streaming subscribers by the end of February. While retailer Kohl gained nearly 8% after The Wall Street Journal reported that a group of activist investors is attempting to take control of the department store chain’s board.

  • Tom Holland says he botched his 'Star Wars' audition because he 'couldn't stop laughing' at the person imitating a drone

    The "Cherry" star revealed that he auditioned for the role of Finn in the "Star Wars" franchise, which ultimately went to John Boyega.

  • Biden administration asks U.S. Supreme Court to dump Medicaid work case

    President Joe Biden's administration on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to cancel an upcoming oral argument on a policy introduced under his predecessor Donald Trump backing work requirements for people who receive healthcare under the Medicaid program for the poor. Acting Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said the Biden administration has started the process of reversing the previous policy and asked the justices to dump the scheduled March 29 arguments concerning pilot programs adopted by the states of Arkansas and New Hampshire. Under Trump, the Department of Health and Human Services in 2018 approved the pilot projects in those two states as part of a push to put a conservative stamp on Medicaid, a program that was expanded under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, to provide coverage to millions more Americans.

  • Every actor who'll be appearing in the 'Sex and the City' reboot - and those who won't

    The finale of "Sex and the City" aired 17 years ago today. Here's everyone who has - and hasn't - been confirmed for the reboot.

  • Dominion Voting Systems sues MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell

    Mike Lindell is accused of perpetuating a “Big Lie” about Dominion’s role in the 2020 election, including that he knowingly spread false information.

  • GOP Texas Congressman attacks Ted Cruz: ‘When a crisis hits my state, I’m there’

    Mr McCaul told CNN: ‘Normally, in Texas, wintertimes are pretty nice. We haven’t been hit by an arctic blast like this since 1890s. To put it in perspective, it was down below five degrees [fahrenheit], close to zero degrees for many days’

  • Family suing Texas utility companies for $100M after 11-year-old boy died amid power failure

    The family of Cristian Pineda is suing two power companies in Texas after the 11-year-old was found dead in their freezing mobile home.

  • Elon Musk says Starlink's satellite internet speeds will 'double' in 2021

    The CEO tweeted on Monday that Starlink's speeds should increase significantly this year, as should the company's service area.

  • Texas politicians saw electricity deregulation as a better future. Years later, millions lost power.

    A debate has erupted about whether the deregulation of the Texas electricity market contributed to the most calamitous week in recent state history.

  • ‘Most attendees want him dead’: Pence’s decision to skip CPAC backed by his supporters

    Annual conference, which will feature Donald Trump, comes weeks after Capitol riot

  • Supreme Court Rejects Trump’s Bid to Conceal Financial Records from NY Prosecutor

    The Supreme Court on Monday declined to halt the turnover of former president Donald Trump’s tax records to a New York prosecutor. While the documents will be subject to grand jury secrecy rules that restrict their public release, the ruling is a loss for Trump, who has long fought to shield his financial records from prosecutors. Trump had repeatedly argued that the subpoena issued by Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance, which includes documents from January 2011 to August 2019, was overbroad and issued in bad faith. The documents from Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars, relate to the Trump Organization’s employment of Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen and a hush money payment Cohen allegedly made to two women who claimed to have had extramarital affairs with Trump. Vance celebrated the ruling, which was issued without comment or noted dissent, saying in a tweet, “The work continues.” The work continues. — Cyrus Vance, Jr. (@ManhattanDA) February 22, 2021 While Trump’s personal lawyers may choose to fight their appeal in the case, the release of the documents by Mazars effectively ends the dispute, which began last July when the Supreme Court voted 7–2 to reject Trump’s claims of immunity from a state criminal subpoena seeking his tax returns. The Court said then that, as president, Trump was not entitled to any kind of heightened standard unavailable to ordinary citizens and sent the case back down to the lower court so the president could make more targeted objections to the scope of the subpoena. A federal appeals court said in October that “there is nothing to suggest that these are anything but run-of-the-mill documents typically relevant to a grand jury investigation into possible financial or corporate misconduct.” Trump’s personal lawyers brought the case back to the high court, requesting that it put the lower court ruling on hold while the justices considered whether to take up the appeal. “The subpoena is geographically sprawling, temporally expansive, and topically unlimited — all attributes that raise suspicions of an unlawful fishing expedition,” Trump’s lawyer William Consovoy argued. He added that, “even if disclosure is confined to the grand jury and prosecutors,” once the documents are surrendered, confidentiality “will be lost for all time.”