Woman found stabbed to death; police kill suspect

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The chilling reality that this city had its second homicide in as many days came when an 8-year-old boy pleaded to an emergency operator: "Please help me, my dad is killing my mom."

By the time police arrived, the woman lay dead on the kitchen floor of her Springfield home with multiple stab wounds. A man described as her live-in boyfriend was uncontrollable and defiant when police arrived Monday evening, officer Matt Brown said. A stun gun and a baton was used, but Brown said officers could not restrain the man. Officers eventually shot him with "sock rounds," beanbag-style weapons containing buckshot, Brown said.

The suspect died a short time later inside the house.

The woman was identified as Cortney L. Eden, 27. Her boyfriend was identified as 44-year-old Timothy R. Sleet.

Autopsies were pending Tuesday, authorities said. Springfield Police Department Internal Affairs and the Missouri State Highway Patrol were assisting with the investigation.

Authorities said Eden had two children, but Sleet was not their biological father.

The telephone went dead after the boy called 911, authorities said.

Dispatchers called back.

"They couldn't get him back," Brown said.

Neighbors were shocked by the incident.

"He was probably one of the best-mannered guys in the neighborhood," neighbor Ronald Braden said. "You never heard anything from the man."

On Sunday night, Donald Patton, 42, of Colorado, was fatally assaulted in a city park. He was in Springfield looking for work, authorities said.

Five people have been charged in his death -- the first homicide of the year in the state's third largest city.