A Blue Springs man, formerly from Moniteau County, has been found not guilty of killing a California woman almost a decade ago.
A Laclede County jury handed down their verdict for Joseph Spencer, 39, after a trial that ended Thursday.
He had been charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action for the shooting death of Leslie Gregory who had been reported missing in November 2002.
Spencer entered a plea of not guilty in Moniteau County Circuit Court in July 2008, with a change of venue granted to Laclede County.
Gregory's body and the green Lincoln Towncar she was last seen driving were located on a farm in the McGirk area in early January 2003.
The farm was owned at the time by Spencer's relatives.
Spencer was taken into custody by the Moniteau County Sheriff's Department on May 2008.
He did not testify in his own defense at the trial.