MCS-6
The Case of the Co-Worker Betrayed
Officers of the Cape Girardeau Police Department were called to the Auto Zone store at 835 North Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau shortly after midnight on the early morning hours of Sunday, February 25, 1990. The store manager reported that someone had stolen the red petty cash bag from the safe. It contained about $1,129.00. The alarm company had reported that someone had set off the alarm at 21:28 that Saturday night, but that an employee, Randy Lee Stephens, had told them there was no problem and had reentered the store with his pass code at 21:33. Stephens had never reset the alarm. He was missing. The safe required a combination and a key to unlock. It was standing open.
The Major Case Squad was activated.
Gregory A. Brown, another employee of Auto Zone, said that he had helped Stephens close out the store shortly after 9:30 p.m. He had helped count the money. The safe had been locked when they left. Stephens had mentioned to Brown that Stephens had received a call from Marvin Goad, a former Auto Zone employee, earlier in the evening. Goad had claimed he was having car trouble and needed Stephens to come help him. Stephens had said he was going to meet Goad at a gas station when he got off work.
Scott City Chief of Police David Beck was driving to Cape Girardeau at about midnight to pick up his wife from her place of work at BG's restaurant. At the intersection of Kingshighway and Bloomfield roads, he saw Marvin Goad sitting in Goad's car. It was parked on the shoulder of the road, directly under a street light. He recognized Goad, who was his neighbor, and decided Goad must be having car trouble. He decided he would stop and help him if Goad were still there after Beck picked up his wife. Goad was gone by the time Beck came back by.
Major Case Squad Member Kenton Martin of the Cape Girardeau Police Department interviewed Goad at about 2:30 a.m. on February 25, 1990. Goad maintained that he knew nothing of the whereabouts of Randy Lee Stephens nor anything about the disappearance of the money. He claimed he had been home all evening. Goad was not under arrest at the time of the interview, and went home afterwards.
The body of Randy Lee Stephens, 27, was found at the side of Silver Springs Road about one-fourth of a mile from its intersection with Kingshighway by a passerby at about 8:45 a.m. on Sunday morning, February 25, 1990. His hands and feet had been tied and he had been shot repeatedly.
Dr. Mary Case of the St. Louis Medical Examiner's Office performed the autopsy of Randy Lee Stephens. He had been shot six times in the head. One bullet went in one side of his forearm and out the other. Another bullet went in a knuckle and out a finger. Some material from the lining of Stephens' jacket was found driven into Stephens' head by one of the bullets, and was protruding from a bullet hole in his forehead.
Randy Lee Stephens' car, a 1984 Camaro, was soon found parked about 100 yards south of Broadway on the shoulder of Spring Street. It was impounded and searched. It proved to be a murder scene on wheels. A large amount of blood was found on the back seat and floorboard of the car. A piece of white clothesline type rope was found on the front passenger seat. An expended shell casing was found in the front passenger seat and a human tooth was found on the right rear floorboard. Three other spent shell casings were found under the passenger seat on the floor.
In a dumpster near the place where Stephens' car was located, police found a pair of gloves and the empty red petty cash bag from Auto Zone.
Police found Randy Lee Stephens' wallet and a .25 caliber Raven Arms semi-automatic pistol hidden in a hole under a tree in the Scott City Park, not far from Marvin Goad's home. Andy Wagoner, a ballistics expert with the Southeast Missouri Regional Crime Laboratory, confirmed by scientific examination that the gun was the murder weapon.
Marvin Dewane Goad, 40, a former Auto Zone employee, and the person whom Randy Lee Stephens had been planning to meet when he left work, quickly found himself in the position of prime suspect.
Goad's wife gave consent for a search of their home. Officers found three bundles of one dollar bills totaling $189.00 under some bed linens in the closet of the master bedroom. They found $845.00 stuffed behind the bathroom shower stall. They found several pieces of white clothesline hidden inside two hollow upholstery material spools. They found a note on a notepad stating: "HONEY, WENT TO CAPE THE WHEELS ARE GOING ABOUT YOUR CAR MAY GET THE MONEY SOONER LOVE YOU MARV P.S. TEAR THIS UP." A man's clothing was found in the washing machine, dried mud was found in the waste basket under the kitchen counter top, and a pair of men's white tennis shoes were found hidden above the ceiling in the basement utility room.
Marvin Dewane Goad was arrested by Scott City Police Officer Jim Oldham and re-interviewed by Kenton Martin and Oldham at 9:45 a.m. on February 25, 1990. After being advised of his rights, Goad stated he wanted an attorney. Martin stopped questioning Goad and began gathering his paperwork to transport Goad to the jail in Cape Girardeau. Goad then stated that he changed his mind and would speak to Martin without an attorney.
Marvin Dewane Goad first claimed that the "mob" had been behind the death of Randy Stephens. After being told that the money had been found at his house, Goad spoke to his son over the telephone. His son encouraged him to tell the truth. Goad then gave a detailed confession.
Marvin Dewane Goad admitted he shot Randy Stephens, but said it was an accident. Goad said he went to Cape Girardeau at about 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night, February 24, 1990. He spoke with Randy Stephens briefly at Auto Zone. He then called Stephens at about 8:00 p.m. and claimed he was having car trouble and asked Stephens to come pick him up when Stephens got off work. He was calling from the gas station on Broadway near the NAPPA store. Stephens agreed to come by when he got off work about 9:30.
Goad was armed with a .25 caliber handgun he had stolen from his sister a week earlier.
Goad said that when Stephens arrived at the gas station, Goad got into Stephens' car. Goad said Stephens agreed to cooperate with Goad and stage a fake robbery. Stephens then drove them back to Auto Zone.
At Auto Zone, Stephens opened the front door with a key and turned off the alarm. They went inside and Stephens called the alarm company and told them he had forgotten something and gave them his pass code. Stephens then opened the safe and gave Goad a red bank bag. They left the store and drove south on Kingshighway.
Goad claimed that he had not pointed the gun at Stephens up to that point. He said he had the gun in his pocket when he first got into Stephens' car, and had placed it on the front seat of Stephens' car, next to Goad.
Goad said they drove south on Kingshighway to the Dutchtown exit and then drove toward Lone Star Cement Company. Stephens stopped the car and Goad told Stephens to tie himself up. Stephens tied his hands in front of himself, and then put a loose tie around his feet. They used a clothesline Goad had gotten from his basement.
Goad said that Stephens was supposed to get into the back seat of the car, and give Goad thirty minutes to get away. Goad was going to hitchhike somewhere, but said he did not know where.
Goad said that as he was helping Stephens get into the back seat of the car, Stephens acted like he was falling. Goad tried to help him and Stephens grabbed Goad's hands. Goad was holding the gun. The gun went off at least five times. Goad emptied the clip. Goad claimed it was accidental.
Goad said he considered taking Stephens to the hospital, but elected instead to dump his body at the side of the road at Silver Springs Road near its intersection with Kingshighway.
Goad said he then returned Stephens' car to the gas station on Broadway and parked it there. He took the money out of the red bank bag and put the bag and a pair of gloves into a trash dumpster.
Goad said he got into his own car and drove home. He believed he arrived at 10:45 p.m. He picked up his son from a teen hangout called "The Place" and then hid his tennis shoes in the ceiling in the utility room.
Goad said he returned to Cape Girardeau at about 11:45 to check on Randy Stephens again. He said he was thinking again of taking him to the hospital. He saw that Stephens was clearly dead. He then sat for a moment in his car on the shoulder of the road at the intersection of Kingshighway and Bloomfield. He guessed this was when Chief Beck saw him, although he did not see Chief Beck. He then returned home and remained there until the police arrived the first time at 2:30 a.m.
Goad said that after he returned home from the first interview with the police, he got the gun he'd used to shoot Randy Stephens out of his closet and threw it into a pond across the street.
Detective Kenton Martin's interview with Goad ended at about 12:40 p.m. on February 25, 1990. Goad provided Martin with a written statement.
On the way back to Cape Girardeau, Goad showed Kenton Martin the location where the shooting had taken place. It was an area at the shoulder of the road on Highway 74 just east of I-55. Martin found a ball of the white clothesline at the location, as well as two spent shell casings.
Marvin Goad's son told police that when his father came back from the police station at about 7:00 a.m. on February 25, 1990, he called his sister and told her he had hurt a man real bad and had used her gun. He told his wife that he had done it all for her. Goad’s son watched his father hide the clothesline. His mother told him that Marvin had hidden the money and the shoes. The boy admitted that he was the one who took the gun and Randy's wallet and hid them in the Scott City Park at about 8:30 a.m. He said he did it to protect his father. Once it was obvious that his father was caught, however, he told police the truth.
Goad’s wife revealed that she and her husband had paid a down payment of $100 on February 20, 1990, to buy a 1983 Delta 88 automobile from Ray's Auto Sales. The balance was due on March 5, 1990, and the deposit was not refundable.
Major Case Squad Commander John B. Brown briefly interviewed Marvin Goad on tape when he was brought to the Cape Girardeau Police Department by Kenton Martin. Brown questioned Goad about Goad's comment that the gun had just kept firing. Brown asked why Goad had shot Stephens so many times. Goad said, "My hand just froze on the trigger, and it, I guess that's how that gun goes." Brown pointed out that you have to pull the trigger every single time to make it shoot. Goad replied, "It just, my finger just kept going. I just kept starin' and it just kept going." He later added, "Honest to God, I didn't mean to pull that trigger. I didn't. I didn't mean to pull it."
Andy Wagoner, of the Southeast Missouri Regional Crime Laboratory, test fired the gun and found that it had a measured trigger pull of 8 1/2 pounds, and that at no time during the test firing did it switch to fully automatic fire.
Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle sought the death penalty for Marvin Dewane Goad since the murder had been premeditated and committed during the course of a robbery. The Major Case Squad had put together such a strong case that even when Swingle refused to waive the death penalty, Goad pled guilty without any sort of plea bargain.
Circuit Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr., after giving the matter much consideration, elected not to impose the death penalty upon Goad. He sentenced him instead to life in prison without parole.