MCS-26
The Case of the Good Samaritan
On Saturday evening, May 25, 1996, Kenneth Wayne Stone, 31, shot and killed Daniel Laurence Farrow, age 30, by shooting him with a 30-30 deer rifle.
He shot him one time in the chest. The bullet went into Danny Farrow's upper right chest, shattered his 3rd rib in the front of his chest, fractured his 4th rib, and exploded and tore apart (macerated) his upper right lung, then went out of his body in the middle of his back, near his spine.
He shot Danny Farrow to death in Danny's own home, a mobile home located at 167 Arikara Lane at the Oriole Trailer Court in Oriole, Missouri, in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri.
He shot Danny Farrow to death with Danny Farrow's own gun, a 30-30 hunting rifle, which the Defendant had equipped with a homemade silencer by taping a pillow over the end of the rifle to muffle the sound of the shot so the neighbors wouldn't hear.
He shot Danny Farrow to death after taking the time to turn up the stereo loud so the neighbors wouldn't hear the gunshot.
Danny Farrow had been a friend of Kenneth Wayne Stone’s. Stone had been down and out and needing a place to stay when Danny Farrow had let him stay with him for a week prior to the murder. Stone repaid him by murdering Danny and stealing the contents of Danny's wallet -- his cash, credit cards, photos and driver's license.
There were no eyewitnesses to the murder, but the Major Case Squad pieced together a strong case.
Family members of Danny Farrow confirmed that Danny Farrow lived alone at his mobile home at 167 Arikara Lane in Oriole, Missouri. He lived about a mile from his father's house. He was 30 years old and didn't smoke, didn't use drugs, barely ever drank, and had worked steadily since he got out of high school. He'd worked 5 years at Lee Rowan in Jackson.
Family members reported that Danny had been good friends with Kenneth Wayne Stone. They had grown up together, going to Alma Schrader Grade School and junior high and High School together. But Danny and his family hadn't seen much of Kenneth Wayne Stone lately.
Robert Henry Hobbs, 45, told police that he had seen a lot of Kenneth Wayne Stone in the months leading up to this murder. Hobbs had met Stone in October of 1995 when they were both working for Fru-Con at a job at Proctor & Gamble. Hobbs was working as a millwright on the project. Stone was working as an electrician on it. They began car-pooling in October 1995 and kept car-pooling through March 1996, driving back and forth to work at least 4 times per week. Hobbs and Stone got to be friends during this time.
The Fru-Con project ended, and Hobbs and Stone were both laid off.
In May, 1996, Hobbs was living at an apartment at 1032 Broadway, Apartment C, the upstairs of a house that had been made into an apartment. It is located on Broadway in Cape Girardeau, across from Houck Stadium, not far from Pagliai's Pizzeria, in Cape Girardeau.
Hobbs was living in the apartment with a roommate named Richie. Richie was paying Hobbs rent for staying at the apartment.
Hobbs told investigators that around the beginning of May, Kenneth Wayne Stone came to Hobbs, down and out, needing a place to stay. He was unemployed. He had no money. Hobbs let Stone stay at his apartment rent-free for a couple of weeks, sleeping on a couch, so he could get his feet back on the ground.
After Stone had been at the apartment for about two weeks, he disappeared one day. Friday, May 17, 1996, he left about 9:30 a.m., and disappeared into thin air. He had not said he was moving out, had not said he was leaving. He just disappeared. After Stone had been gone about 3 days, Hobbs filed a missing person report for Stone on Monday, May 20, 1996.
About a week after Stone's disappearance, on Saturday, May 25, 1996, Labor Day weekend, Robert Hobbs got a series of telephone calls from Stone.
The first phone call, fairly early in the afternoon, was not too alarming. Stone simply said that he knew Hobbs had been looking for him, but that he was okay, and would be coming back to Hobbs' place later that day.
Two or three more phone calls followed, though, later in the afternoon.
In the later calls, Stone wanted Hobbs to come pick him up. He said he was out at a mobile home at the Oriole Trailer Court, and gave directions how to get there.
At first, Hobbs did not realize there was any hurry, and Hobbs took time to get into the shower.
Stone called back while Hobbs was in the shower, and insisted to Richie that Hobbs get out of the shower to talk to him.
Stone told Hobbs over the telephone: (1) "Don't waste time getting out here because things have gotten kind of bloody." (2) "I have money, so don't worry about gas money." (3) "I'll be walking along the road. I'll be carrying a ‘package.’"
Hobbs was alarmed after these phone calls. He told Richie that he was going to pick up Stone. He told Richie to call the police and tell them about the phone calls and that he was picking up this missing person who was talking about things getting bloody. He told Richie to tell the police he would be in his brown station-wagon with Stone.
Hobbs also armed himself with a handgun, which he put in his waistband, and drove out into the County to find Stone.
Hobbs went out to the Oriole Trailer Court, pulled in, but did not see Stone. He then drove on Highway V and about 1 mile from the Trailer Court he found Stone standing next to the road.
Stone got into Hobbs car, putting a long black gun case into the back seat. Stone had a glass of whiskey in his hand.
When he got into the car, Kenneth Wayne Stone told Hobbs that he had killed a guy. He wanted to go back to the mobil home and get his things out of it, and he wanted to get rid of the body.
Hobbs drove him back to Danny Farrow's mobile home. Stone said he could come in and see the body if he didn't believe he had really killed someone. Hobbs declined.
Stone wanted Hobbs to help him move the body out of the mobile home, but Hobbs said no, that was something you should do at nighttime, and it was still daylight.
Hobbs waited outside as Stone went inside, but through the door he could see the Stone walking around inside the mobile home. Hobbs noticed that Stone had wrapped himself in a sheet part of the time.
Stone carried some things out of the mobile home, including the gun case, which he had taken back in, and a cooler with some things in it, the sheet he'd wrapped himself in, and some cigarettes and Pepsi.
Stone had been in Danny Farrow's mobile home about 5 minutes or so, before he got back in the car and Hobbs drove him back to Cape.
On the way back into Cape Girardeau, Stone talked excitedly to Hobbs about what he had done. He gave the name of the person he had killed, but Hobbs didn't know Danny Farrow, so the name didn't mean anything to him. He said he'd been staying at Danny Farrow's since he had left Hobbs' apartment. He said he and Danny Farrow had been cleaning Danny's hunting guns and he had decided that he would kill Danny. He said Danny left the living room to go down the hall to do something. He said he put a pillow over the end of the rifle to muffle the shot so the neighbors wouldn't hear. He said he turned up the stereo loud so the neighbors wouldn't hear.
He said Danny had left the room, and as he was walking back up the hallway he shot him with the 30-30 deer rifle. He said he had aimed for the spine, but had hit him in the upper right chest. He said he had "Hip Shot" him, meaning that he hadn't aimed from the shoulder, but had shot from the hip. He said he had thought Danny would drop immediately, but instead Danny said: "Call the neighbors for help! I'm shot!"
He said he knew Danny was "The Walking Dead" because he had shot him in the chest. He said Danny stayed on his feet about 20 seconds. He said Danny took a few steps and fell to the floor. He said the hard part was it took Danny about four minutes to die. He said he tried to dig the bullet out of the wall, but couldn't get it out. He said he planned to steal Danny's truck, but it turned out the truck was not outside, so he needed to call Hobbs to come get him.
Hobbs had not been sure Stone had really killed anybody until their car got to the intersection of Melody and Big Bend Road. That's when Stone pulled a brass shell casing from his pocket and said, "This is the one that did it" and threw the shell casing out the window.
At that point, Hobbs truly believed that Stone had committed a murder.
When they got back to the apartment at 1032 Broadway, Hobbs was hoping that police would be waiting to talk to them. There were no police there.
Meanwhile, in response to Richie’s call to the police Cape Girardeau Police Officer Robert Counts had driven by the apartment looking for the brown station wagon about 8:30 p.m., but saw nothing, and drove away to answer other calls.
When Hobbs and Stone reached the apartment, Hobbs parked his car and he and Stone crossed the parking lot to the stairs to the 2nd floor apartment. Hobbs kept hoping the police would show up while they were outside, but they didn't. They went upstairs.
When Hobbs and Stone got there, Richie immediately left to go call the police again.
Alone in the apartment, Hobbs kept trying to get Stone to unload and put away the guns. In the gun case, he had the 30-30 rifle and a .22 rifle. Stone simply wouldn't put them down. He'd unload them, but then load them back again. Hobbs was trying to get him to allow him to put them in a closet, but Stone wouldn't agree to it.
Then, at about 9:09 p.m., there was a knock at the door. It was police officer Robert Counts, back again to check on the report about the missing person being found. Hobbs' apartment door was solid glass, frosted. You go up a set of wooden steps to get to this 2nd story door. Counts knocked on the door, and shined his mag light flashlight into the door, trying to see inside.
Stone had the loaded 30-30 rifle in his hands when Officer Counts was outside the door. He was sitting in a chair. He swung the rifle around, cocked it by pulling the hammer back, and, with his finger on the trigger, started aiming at Counts' silhouette, preparing to fire.
Hobbs grabbed the rifle and pointed it away from the officer, and whispered to Stone that he had gotten away with it, that the officer would just be there routinely because he was a missing person, and not to be stupid and make things worse.
Robert Hobbs most likely saved the life of Patrolman Robert Counts.
Counts started down the steps, but had heard a scuffling sound, and came back up the steps, knocked some more, shined the light in some more, then left. Counts had been outside the apartment knocking on the door for about 2 minutes. He left, never knowing that a gun had been pointed at him.
After the police officer left, Hobbs tried to think of another way to separate Stone from the guns. He came up with the idea of suggesting that they go get a drink. Hobbs said, "You've made me all nervous. Let's go get a drink." Stone agreed to put the guns away and go get a drink.
Before they left the apartment, Stone pulled up his pants leg. Stuffed in his sock was the contents of Danny Farrow's wallet, including some money, credit cards, driver's licenses, photographs, social security card.
Hobbs and Stone left the apartment. Hobbs' plan was to go to the package liquor store across the street, where he knew the assistant manager. He planned to grab and hold Kenny Stone while telling the assistant manager to call 911. Stone did not want to go to the liquor store, though. He wanted to go someplace where they could get a mixed drink.
Hobbs and Stone walked 4 blocks to Player's Bar, in the 600 Block of Broadway. While they were at Players Bar, both Hobbs and Stone had some drinks. After they were at Players for a while, Hobbs looked around for someone to call the police. He spotted a young man named John who was a friend of Hobbs' son. When John went to the bathroom Hobbs followed him in, and asked him to call the police and tell them he was there with a guy who said he'd killed someone, and if the police would come, he would bring the guy outside.
Hobbs went back outside to Stone wouldn't get suspicious. A few minutes later, John got word to him that the call had been made, and that the police would be outside the back door.
A few minutes later, Hobbs told Stone that he knew a guy, a flaky guitar player, who might help them dispose of the body. Stone thought that was a good idea, and they went out the back door.
Once outside, police officers, Cpl. Barry Hovis and Robert Counts were waiting. Hobbs grabbed Stone and said, "Here he is!" Hobbs and Stone struggled briefly. Counts took hold of Stone and Hovis took hold of Hobbs. Hobbs pulled up his shirt and let Hovis take custody of his gun. Counts took Stone into protective custody for being intoxicated in public.
Officers Counts and Hovis noted that it was about 10:05 p.m. on Saturday night, May 25, 1996, when they took Stone into custody outside Players Bar.
Besides Robert Hobbs, other witnesses established the guilt of Kenneth Wayne Stone.
Barry Hovis testified that after Stone was in custody, Hobbs took him back to Hobbs' apartment, and Hovis collected the 30-30 rifle, the .22 rifle, the gun case, the blue sheet Stone had wrapped himself in, and some cigarettes and Pepsi.
Another Officer, Deputy David Noah, collected from Hobbs at 8:30 the next morning a cooler containing Danny Farrow's driver's license, cash, credit cards, and photos of his niece and nephew.
Eric Frederich of the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department went with Hobbs to Danny Farrow's mobile home that night. They arrived about 11:42 p.m. on Saturday night, May 25, 1996. Hobbs waited outside, but Frederich and other officers went inside and found the body of Danny Farrow.
They found that Danny had been shot in the right chest, just as Stone had told Hobbs. They found that the bullet was in the wall, and they dug it out of the wall. A firearms expert confirmed that it was definitely fired from the 30-30 rifle Hobbs
turned over the Hovis. They found the brass shell casing on the road near the intersection of Melody Road and Big Bend Road, just where Hobbs said it would be. The firearms expert confirmed that it matched to the 30-30 rifle as being fired by it.
They found a pillow in the trash can. It had been folded in half, and taped around it, as if taped over the end of a rifle. It had powder burns in the middle of it and a hole blown through it. Tape of the sort used was still on the counter. Stuffing from the pillow was blown onto the floor in and on the body. A cigarette with saliva that DNA tests connected to Stone was found burned out on the stereo. Stone’s fingerprints were found at 4 places in the mobile home: on a paper bag on the kitchen table;
on a cigarette pack in the same trash bag with the pillow; and on two pieces of paper with phone numbers written on them that were in the trash with the pillow. No fingerprints of Robert Hobbs were found anywhere in Danny Farrow's home. Two Blockbuster movies -- Braveheart and Pulp Fiction – were found in the trash bag. The telephone at Danny Farrow's home had a redial feature, which allows you to hit a button and redial the last number called on the telephone. Deputy David James hit that button, and found that it called the apartment of Robert Hobbs. His answering machine answered the telephone, and James recorded that call.
Gunshot residue tests were done on the hands of Robert Hobbs and Kenneth Wayne Stone. These tests will show whether a person has on his hands the chemicals antimony, copper and lead. The presence of these three chemicals indicates that the person has recently fired or handled a recently-fired gun or been in close proximity to a gun being fired. The test was positive for the hands of Kenneth Wayne Stone. Negative for the hands of Robert Hobbs.
The step-sister of Danny Farrow told investigators that she was swimming with her husband and child at the home where her mother and Danny Farrow's father lived, just 1 mile from Danny Farrow's mobil home, on that afternoon of May 25, 1996. She saw Danny Farrow alive and well at about 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 25, 1996. He had driven up in his pick-up truck at about 5:00, visited with her, and stayed until about 5:45 when he left his truck at his father's and drove his 4-wheeler back over to his mobil home. He seemed to be in good spirits, in a good mood. He spent some time working on an aquarium stand in the shop.
Patrick Farrow, the brother of Danny Farrow told officers that while Robert Hobbs and Kenneth Wayne Stone were in Player's Bar, they ran into Patrick Farrow, the younger brother of Danny. Stone said to Patrick Farrow: "Where's your brother, Danny? I haven't seen him for a long time." Patrick said, "He's still out in the trailer at Oriole." Stone said, "I sure wish I could see him." Kenneth Wayne Stone gave the impression to Patrick Farrow that he had not seen Danny Farrow in a long long time. This was around 9:30 at night on May 25, 1996. The comment was, in hindsight, a cold-blooded lie to the brother of the good Samaritan he had just killed.
Deputy Eric Friedrich followed up on the Blockbuster tapes that were found in Danny Farrow's trash at his home. An assistant manager of Blockbuster checked Danny Farrow's Blockbuster account the next day, Sunday, May 26, 1996, and found that the Bravehart and Pulp Fiction movies had been rented by Danny Farrow at 11:19 p.m. on Friday, March 24, 1996. A security surveillance camera showed Danny Farrow renting the tapes, and showed Kenneth Wayne Stone standing right next to him as the tapes were being rented, when he had claimed to Patrick Farrow that he had not seen Danny in a long time and didn't know where he lived.
In closing argument to the jury, Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said: "Kenneth Wayne Stone has given us all a lesson in how dangerous it can be to be a good Samaritan, whether it’s stopping to pick up a hitchhiker on the road, whether it’s stopping to help somebody with car trouble, or whether it’s taking an old friend from high school who is down and out on his luck, doesn’t have any money, into your home to give him a roof over his head for a week. This case shows how dangerous it is to be a good Samaritan, because you never know when you’re trying to give a handout to someone who needs it, if that person will end up being a despicable killer like Kenneth Wayne Stone. Danny Farrow was a good Samaritan in this case . . . and Kenneth Wayne Stone not only bit the hand that was feeding him, but shot dead and killed the man that owned the hand that was feeding him. . . A man he thought was his friend shot him dead in the sanctity of his own home, a man he had been being a good Samaritan to turned on him and killed him in his own home in the ultimate betrayal and I submit to you that Danny Farrow died in agony, in physical agony and agony of the spirit because of what this man did to him."
Kenneth Wayne Stone was convicted by the jury and sentenced to life in prison without parole for first degree murder, plus life for armed criminal action.