Shelton faces new charges after 5-year-old goes missing - KAIT-Jonesboro, AR-News, weather, sports

POPLAR BLUFF, MO (KAIT) – Police are now saying that a man accused of abducting a 5-year-old Missouri girl could also face new charges.

Poplar Bluff Police Chief Danny Whiteley says investigators searched 46-year-old Jeffery Dean Shelton's computer and found evidence that a girl around the age of 10 from the Poplar Bluff area had been victimized, along with other as-yet-unidentified children.

Shelton has not been charged with a sex crime involving the abducted 5-year-old, but police said they plan to seek additional charges. They were unable to offer a timeline of when this might happen.

The Butler County prosecutor has so far charged Shelton with four felonies, including Child Kidnapping, Burglary, Felonious Restraint, and Domestic Assault. 

A preliminary hearing is set for Nov. 15.  No bond has been set.

This list is the sequence of events leading up to Shelton's arrest, according to law enforcement:

• 10 p.m., Tuesday - Mother sees her 5-year-old daughter asleep on the couch in her living room.
• 5:30 a.m., Wednesday – Shelton's girlfriend goes to his home and finds the little girl. Shelton allegedly beats her and binds her with duct tape.
• 6:50 a.m., Wednesday – The mother reports her daughter missing.
• 7:30 a.m., Wednesday – Shelton's girlfriend escapes and files a report about an assault.
• Unknown time, Wednesday – Shelton enters elderly man's home in Ripley County, assaults him, and steals his keys and cell phone.
• 1 p.m., Wednesday – Police hold a press conference, pleading with Shelton to let the child go.
• 1:30 p.m., Wednesday – Shelton leaves man's home. 
• 1:37 p.m., Wednesday - Shelton calls 911 to turn himself in. Dispatchers speak to the child.
• 1:50 p.m., Wednesday - Shelton is arrested when a Doniphan couple spots his vehicle and calls police. The child is taken to a nearby hospital for examination.

CHILD MISSING

The hunt for Shelton began shortly after the 5-year-old was reported missing by her mother. Police said the mother had last seen her asleep on the living room couch around 10 p.m. Tuesday night, but she wasn't there the next morning.

At 7:30 a.m., police received a report about an assault from Shelton's girlfriend.  According to the probable cause statement, Jeffery Shelton's girlfriend told police she went to his home at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday and saw a little girl sitting in a chair at Shelton's house that she knew was not supposed to be there.

Shelton came into the front room and told his girlfriend it was now her fault that he was going to have to kill her and the child, according to the probable cause statement.

That's when the girlfriend told police Shelton began beating her with his fist and tied her hands together with duct tape. As she tried to escape, the girlfriend says Shelton caught her in the carport and began beating her again.

When that drew attention from the neighbors, Shelton stopped and ran into the home while the girlfriend ran to a neighbor's house, according to the probable cause statement.

That's when the girlfriend said Shelton grabbed the child and left in a silver Nissan Pathfinder.

Meanwhile, the 5-year-old's mother called police around 6:50 a.m. reporting that her daughter was missing. According to investigators, the child's mother said she last saw her daughter at 10 p.m. Tuesday when she put her to bed in her home on the 2100 block of Woods Street.

Officers saw that the living room window screen next to the door had been cut and the window was open. Family members Region 8 News spoke with say police cut out part of a window screen and took part of the couch for evidence.

PRESS CONFERENCE

During a press conference early Wednesday afternoon, the Poplar Bluff Police department pleaded with Shelton to release the 5-year-old, who was reported missing early Wednesday morning.

"Let her out at a convenience store or a hospital. Let's get her back safely," said Police Chief Danny Whiteley.

Police issued an Amber Alert for the girl, who was thought to be abducted by Shelton.

Poplar Bluff Police Captain Dave Sutton said Shelton is not related to the child's family, and Deputy Jeff Rolland said Crawford told police she had last seen the girl asleep on the couch in the living room of her home.

"[We] can't disclose anything on his background that led to him as a suspect. This is a dangerous individual. Let law enforcement handle it," explained Whiteley.

MAN ASSAULTED

According to Ripley County Sheriff Ron Barnett, Shelton entered a home of an elderly man later Wednesday in eastern Ripley County, near Perryville, assaulted him and stole his keys and cell phone right before his arrest.

SHELTON CALLS 911

The Daily American Republic is reporting that Shelton called 911 to turn himself in before a Doniphan couple spotted his vehicle on Highway 160.

According to a transcript of the call, Shelton told the 911 operator that he knew police were looking for him and he was ready for them to come get him. The 911 operator was also able to talk to the child sitting next to him.

Here is an excerpt of the call, which comes courtesy of Daily American Republic website,www.darnews.com:

Dispatcher: Let me speak to the girl, please. Hi baby girl. What's your name darling?

Girl: I want to go home.

Dispatcher: What's your name?

Shelton: You hear her?

Dispatcher: I hear her. I want to speak to her though. What's your name darling?

Girl: I don't know where my house is, and I want to go home.

Dispatcher: Ok, baby girl. We're going to come find you.

That phone call led police to Shelton's general location where he was later spotted by a Doniphan couple and arrested by police.

SHELTON SPOTTED AND ARRESTED

Sheriff Barnett said sometime around 1:30, Shelton left the home with the girl in his Nissan Pathfinder, and said a few minutes later, while Shelton was on the phone with a 911 operator, Janice Murray and her husband recognized Shelton's vehicle driving erratically on Highway 160 in southern Butler County near the intersection Highway 67 and called the sheriff's office.

"Just on our way home, down by T highway and we spot this vehicle and my husband goes 'I think that's the vehicle,' and I'm like 'Are you sure?' And, he's like 'Yeah, it's got the busted windshield. You know? Same color.' So, I just whipped it around," said Murray.

After the couple started following the vehicle, Murray said she and her husband decided to go the distance.

"If we were going to chase him all the way through Poplar Bluff, we were going to do it," said Murray.

Barnett said the couple followed Shelton, giving police turn-by-turn directions.

"We gave them directions where he was at, you know? We were passing the school, were up by this road, just in case, you know?"

Twenty minutes later officers arrested Shelton.

People are calling Janice and Danny heroes, but she says it was never about recognition, and only about getting the little girl out of harm's way.

"She's safe. That's all that matters, you know. We're just country folk, you know, having a day out to our self."

Police say the child was taken to Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center to be evaluated and said she was in good spirits, even asking for chicken nuggets and a soda.

SHELTON'S BACKGROUND

Shelton is a registered sex offender.  According to Missouri State Highway Patrol, Shelton was arrested in 1990 for the kidnapping, rape, and sodomy of a 12-year-old girl in Fort Hood, Texas.

Neighbors say Shelton hung around the area a lot, and one mother says she had to confront Shelton about being too close to her children in the past.

Many of the neighbors have said that they didn't really know much about Shelton and had no idea that he was a sex offender.

LAW ENFORCEMENT'S GRATITUDE

Deputy Chief Jeff Rolland says because of the hard work and dedication of law enforcement, the child is back with her family, and a sexual predator is off the street.

Chief Danny Whiteley would like to thank the following Law Enforcement Agencies: The men and women of the Poplar Bluff Police Department; Sheriff Mark Dobbs and the Butler County Sheriff's Office; The Missouri State Highway Patrol; FBI and the United States Marshal Service.

Chief Danny Whiteley would also like to thank the public for their enormous amount of support and assistance with this case.

Region 8 News will continue to track this story and bring you any new details as soon as they become available. 

Copyright 2012 KAIT. All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.