Sheriff probes shooting death in Carter County

EASTWOOD, Mo. -- Authorities are investigating the fatal shooting of a Carter County man early Friday morning in his Eastwood-area home.

The Carter County Sheriff's Department received a call at 1:35 a.m. Friday from a woman near Eastwood requesting an ambulance "for a family member who had been shot," said Sheriff Rick Stephens.

Deputies, with members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, responded to the scene and found a 43-year-old man dead from an apparent gunshot wound, Stephens said.

The man, Carter County Coroner Erik McSpadden said, is Mark Rutter.

No autopsy date has been set, said Stephens, who indicated Rutter is related to Reynolds County Associate Circuit Judge Edith Rutter, but he is not certain of the exact relationship.

Investigators with Troop G's Division of Drug and Crime Control assisted with the investigation, Stephens said.

A suspect, he said, has been "identified and taken into custody for interviews with DDCC. ... There is no active threat to the community at large."