AVA, Mo. – For the first time in over 20 years, police in a rural town in southern Missouri are investigating a homicide.
An Ava, Missouri, man has been charged with killing a man from Springfield.
According to the Ava Police Department, officers were sent to a home in the 400 block of Bunch Avenue on Aug. 15 in response to a fight. Officers found the victim, Dale Hansen, “obviously deceased” inside the house with a knife wound. Hansen was 48.
Officers detained Aaron Vaughan, 54, after seeing apparent injuries to his head, which indicated that he had been involved in some sort of altercation. Police said they found blood on Vaughan’s car, clothes, and hands.
The Ava Police Department, which hadn’t handled a homicide case since 2003, sought assistance from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office for the investigation.
In a statement from the sheriff’s office, Vaughan admitted getting in a fistfight with Hansen and said they were the only two people in the room but denied having ever stabbed him and could not explain why he was covered in blood.
The Douglas County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Vaughan with first-degree murder, armed criminal action, and felony resisting arrest. He remains in the Douglas County Jail without bond and is scheduled for a bond hearing on Monday, Aug. 25.
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