STOVER, Mo. (AP) - A central Missouri man pleaded not guilty in the deaths of a couple who were beaten in their home with a pipe, knife and screwdriver.
25-year-old Ronald James Blowers pleaded Thursday to second-degree murder and other charges in the December 2012 deaths of 82-year-old Wayne L. Wells and 71-year-old and Mable I. Wells. They were found dead in a home in Ivy Bend, south of Stover.
Police say when officers tried to arrest Blowers at his home on Dec. 4, he stabbed himself repeatedly in the stomach and said "I did not mean to do it." He ran into the woods and was eventually caught by police.
Blowers had been paroled Nov. 21 after serving a four-year sentence for a 2007 burglary conviction.