In Audrain County, Mo., a trucker named Chester Harvey Jr. and his son, 19-year-old Chad, are accused of killing and torturing an Ohio man in their basement. It's not clear why the victim, James William Boyd McNeely, was killed or how the suspects knew him. The elder Harvey reportedly picked him up in California. (The state, one presumes. The AP feed isn't crystal clear on the subject.)
This all came to the attention of authorities last week, when someone reported a dead body -- McNeely's -- in the elder Harvey's truck. That led to a standoff with police, where Chester Harvey reportedly held his family hostage. Including, the AP notes, a 9-year-old son in a wheelchair and on dialysis.
More details, some of them fairly gruesome, after the jump ...
In their court filing Wednesday, prosecutors said three other men charged with kidnapping in the case - Robert Nicholas Allen, 52, Jackie Don Moss, 44, and Darrill Kirtley Lynn, 45 - took McNeely from Chester Harvey's home to a home in Farber and kept him there.
Prosecutors said the Harveys retrieved McNeely and brought him back to Chester Harvey's home on Dec. 17, where they restrained him on a mattress in the basement. They said Chad Harvey, who was armed with a shotgun, and others stayed in the basement and watched McNeely to ensure he wouldn't escape.
Prosecutors said both father and son told investigators that throughout that night, McNeely was kicked, hit and threatened with death.
They said the father and son told authorities that Chester Harvey suffocated McNeely with a trash bag while Chad Harvey and others in the basement wrapped wire around McNeely's throat, according to the probable cause statement.
Hat Tip: Many thanks, Keith G in PV!
