2 Cape men suspected of murders captured by sheriff task force

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff deputies located and apprehended two Cape Girardeau men in the last three days who are accused of murder in the region.

Ray Legg III, charged with second-degree murder, unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful use of a weapon in Scott County, and Jimmy Hudson, 18, facing charges of first-degree murder, armed criminal action, unlawful use of a weapon and possession of a controlled substance in Mississippi County, were under nationwide extradition warrants, according to a news release issued by Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Office.

The news release credited the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Office Fugitive Task Force, with the help of other local agencies, in locating the two suspects.

Legg was apprehended Monday, Jan. 22; Hudson was booked Tuesday, Jan. 23.

A grand jury indicted Legg on Jan. 4, according to online court records. The warrant for Legg listed a Fountain Street address in Cape Girardeau.

A search of Hudson's name into Missouri's online court document database showed no results for murder charges from 2023 or 2024, although documents from a criminal drug possession case in 2023 listed Hudson as having an address on Sprigg Street in Cape Girardeau.

However, a news release issued by Robert Hearnes, director of Charleston Department of Public Safety, said Hudson was charged with killing Malik E. Jones, 20, of Caruthersville. Charleston police responded to a shots-fired call at about 4 a.m. Jan. 1 in the 500 block of West Ada Street, where they found Jones bleeding from "several" gunshot wounds, according to the news release. Mississippi County Sheriff's Office and state Highway Patrol assisted in the investigation that led to the charges.