VERSAILLES, Mo. -- Law enforcement officers have a suspect for the murders of an elderly couple on Monday night. Ronald Blowers, 25, who lives in the Ivy Bend area, was not charged for the murders as of Thursday, but he is charged with resisting arrest and trying to harm officers. A judge set his bond at $1 million, an unusually high amount for a resisting arrest charge. Blowers was paroled from a state prison two weeks ago.
The probable cause statement used as the basis of the charge lists Blowers as a suspect for the murders of Wayne and Mable "Mae" Wells at their home in the Ivy Bend area on the north shore of Lake of the Ozarks and south of Stover. Investigators think the murders may have occurred during a robbery. Autopsy results are not released, but officers at the scene said it appeared both victims were shot multiple times.
A news release from Morgan County Sheriff Jim Petty on Thursday afternoon says the investigation "is still ongoing, and we are making progress. There have been several leads and interviews with more to follow." Investigators were searching the area for the murder weapon and other evidence on Thursday.
An investigation of a stolen gun at the home of a neighbor of Blowers led officers to Blowers about 5 p.m. Tuesday. Officers went to Blowers’ home on Sunset Road to talk to him because he was in his driveway, yelling and making a ruckus, and had a knife. His clothes were saturated in blood and officers said he refused to put down the knife.
Blowers kept stabbing himself and said at one point that “he wanted to go home.” He also told officers, according to the probable cause statement, "I did not mean to do it."
Blowers kept running away from officers. Officers tried to use an electric stun gun on him and then used chemical spray, but neither stopped him from stabbing himself and continuing to fight officers. Officers tackled him and he continued to flail and try to stab officers. He was finally subdued and handcuffed. He was treated at a hospital in Columbia for non-life threatening injuries.
Investigators think the Wellses were murdered between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Monday. The lights were on their home, so officers think they were killed after the sun went down, and they usually went to bed by 9 p.m. A neighbor of the Wellses told officers that her dogs made a racket about 6 p.m., but no other time that evening.
Blowers was driving a car that crashed around 6:15 p.m. Monday. A Missouri State Highway Patrol report says Blowers flipped his car on Ivy Bend Road at Hillview Road, between the Wellses' home and Blowers' home, which are about a mile apart. The 1994 Ford Explorer hit a rock wall and a large tree before landing on its top in the road. An ambulance took him to the same hospital in Columbia to be treated for moderate injuries.
Blowers has served prison and jail time previously for a burglary in 2007 and other crimes. Last July 12, a judge revoked his probation for the burglary and ordered him to start serving a four-year prison sentence. A spokesman for the Missouri Department of Corrections says he was released on parole on Nov. 21.
