Charges dropped in dumping of Mo. girl's body

WARSAW (AP) - Prosecutors have dropped charges against a man accused of dumping a southwest Missouri teenager's body in Truman Lake last year and have referred the case to the state attorney general's office.

Anthony Balbirnie of Springfield was scheduled to go to trial next week on an abandonment of a corpse charge. He was accused of throwing the body of 15-year-old Khighla Parks into the lake in September 2012. Her body was found about two weeks after she was seen walking near her home south of Willard in Greene County.

An autopsy was not able to determine how the girl died but her death was ruled a homicide. No one has been charged in her death.

The case was moved to Hickory County on a change of venue. County officials confirmed Tuesday that the charges were dropped but would not elaborate on why.

Several agencies, including the Missouri Highway Patrol, investigated the case but were not able to present enough evidence to convince the Dallas County prosecuting attorney in Buffalo to file a murder charge.

The Greene County prosecuting attorney in Springfield charged Balbirnie in April with resisting arrest, burglary, robbery and armed criminal action. The resisting arrest charge stems from Oct. 8, 2012, when Balbirnie was arrested near Fair Grove after fleeing from law enforcement officers. The other charges stem from an alleged robbery in Springfield in September 2012.

Balbirnie is in state prison for violating parole on earlier convictions.