Suspect in Scopus, Mo., killing to be arraigned today

Lisa Barlow is scheduled for a court appearance this morning in which she may enter a plea in the July 27 slaying of her boyfriend, Michael E. Strong.

Bollinger County Sheriff's Department deputies found Strong shot to death in the living room of his Scopus, Mo., home around 11 p.m. after Barlow, who lived with Strong, placed a 911 call saying intruders had broken in.

Barlow is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action.

Prosecutor Stephen Gray laid an abundance of circumstantial evidence before Associate Circuit Judge Scott Thomsen at a preliminary hearing Friday, and Thomsen ruled Barlow will stand trial.

Gray presented more than a dozen witnesses, many of whom offered testimony refuting what Barlow told police. According to testimony of Brenda Daniels, the dispatcher who answered Barlow's emergency call, Barlow said she was awakened by strange voices mingling with Strong's. The dispatcher testified that Barlow said she heard her boyfriend yelling at someone to "get the hell out of the house" and heard a gunshot.

Greg Owens of Scopus testified he'd been renting a cabin near the Strong residence and heard a gunshot as he was preparing to catch the 10 p.m. news -- nearly an hour before Barlow called 911.

Though police had been unable to locate any spent shells on the floor of the Strong residence, a search uncovered Strong's gun cabinet, which housed several firearms and an empty holster with ammunition, Bollinger County deputy Luke Malahy testified. They seized the holster, later learning -- after performing a gun registration check -- that Strong owned a Ruger .44-caliber Blackhawk revolver that was missing from the house.

Dr. Russ Deidiker, a forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy on Strong, testified that Strong died of a single gunshot wound to the head. Based on crime scene photographs and what the injuries indicated about the bullet's trajectory, Deidiker concluded that Strong was reclining on the sofa when he was shot. Deidiker also testified he'd recovered the bullet from Strong's body during the autopsy.

Jason Crafton, a criminalist with the Missouri State Highway Patrol crime lab in Jefferson City, Mo., compared the bullet retrieved from the autopsy with one known to have come from Strong's missing revolver, and testified that Ruger was one of five manufacturers that could have made a gun that fired both bullets.

Nick Gerhardt, a trace evidence analyst with the state crime lab, testified that a test done on Barlow's hands several hours after the shooting revealed particles of lead, barium and antimony, all of which are indicative of gunshot residue.

During cross-examination by one of Barlow's attorneys, Cape Girardeau assistant public defender Amy Metzinger, Gerhardt agreed that someone doesn't actually have to fire a gun for there to be gunshot residue on their hands.

"You have to be in the environment of a firearm or touched something where a transfer had taken place," Gerhardt said.

Eric Frederich, a detective with the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department, testified that blood spatter evidence proved the coffee table in Strong's living room had been turned on its side after he'd been shot.

"Somebody made it look like a struggle after the fact," Frederich said.

Barlow is being held in Bollinger County Jail on a $500,000 cash-only bond.

bdicosmo@semissourian

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