Did you know? 5 weird Southeast Missouri stories from 2023

Plenty of news occurred in Southeast Missouri in 2023. While the following stories may not score highly on the news value scale, they certainly captured a lot of attention. Here are five of the weirdest stories from the region in 2023, along with a bit of attempted humor thrown in for good measure.

See ya later, Elvis

An alligator named Elvis was killed by authorities over the Memorial Day weekend at Wappapello Lake near Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Officials with Suspicious Minds said they believed the alligator was the same reptile reported missing in September 2022 in Wayne County. It had been kept as a pet, and given a name.

Elvis' final location was reported by a fisherman. Officials shot the animal.

The killing of the animal got animal lovers All Shook Up.

An alligator was seen over the Memorial Day weekend at Lost Creek in the Wappapello Lake area.Courtesy Curtis Barkley, file

But Elvis was not the only alligator to make headlines in Southeast Missouri. Cape Girardeau Police Department rescued an alligator hatchling that escaped from its owner somewhere in the area of Red Bud Circle.

It turns out the department's head of communications Josh McKinney happens to be a reptile handler, and was able to take the little alligator in until his owner could be found. The alligator was then reunited with its owner. The name of the animal was not released by authorities. It was a juvenile.

In Cape Girardeau, you're allowed to keep alligators as pets until they are 8 feet long. That's about the length when they begin eyeing people as a food source.

CGPD spokesman Bobby Newton offered a good suggestion in a statement: "If you are not able to care for it, contact the police department, and the nuisance officers can come collect the animal."

In other words, when it comes to reptilian pet ownership, Don't Be Cruel.

The trophy controversy

Alabama Rawdogs players who were ruled ineligible because of age and/or college participation, hold signs in support of their teammates during a 5-3 win over Washington at the Babe Ruth World Series on Aug. 17 at Capaha Field in Cape Girardeau.Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com, file

To best of anyone's knowledge, no alligators can be found in Capaha Pond.

But some other foreign or invasive things are certainly lurking there.

After losing the championship game in the Babe Ruth World Series in Cape Girardeau to the Southeast Tropics, several players on the Alabama Rawdogs threw their trophies into Capaha Pond.

Team members thought they'd been unfairly treated when several of their players had been ruled ineligible to play because of their ages. The team disagreed with the interpretation of the rules, and, with a depleted roster, lost the World Series championship to one of the two teams representing Southeast Missouri.

The players recorded themselves throwing the trophies into the pond, and made a big splash by posting the video to social media. Many condemned the actions as poor sportsmanship, not to mention littering.

The incident may have sparked memories of St. Louis Cardinals fans from the 1980s, and the nasty nickname given to the rival New York Mets at the time. Which brings us to ...

Algae covers the majority of pond surface at Capaha Park. Cape Girardeau Parks Department officials say removing the algae will be a lengthy process.Southeast Missourian file

Pond scum

One of the biggest battles the Cape Girardeau Parks Department faced all year was its fight against pond scum.

The city finished several major projects within Capaha Park in 2023, including dredging the pond, and building a trail and docks around the small body of water. Officials were hopeful the dredging of the pond and the installation of some aerator fountains would kill off the slimy green stuff. But the pond scum proved resilient.

City park workers spent a lot of time removing the mass of algae by going out in a boat to scoop the algae out of the pond, but they never could get rid of it completely. Officials hope that with proper care in getting the nutrient levels evened out after this winter, the pond scum will eventually go away.

And before the comment section gets out of hand ... Capaha Pond has also been called Capaha Lagoon over the years. It's been called both across the decades of coverage in the Southeast Missourian.

When asked, city officials said the preferred name is Capaha Pond.

Fun fact: Some scientists believe toxic algae contributed to the extinction of dinosaurs, and that leads us to ...

Marble Hill Police Department Capt. Jerry Gilliam hauls a missing dinosaur decoration Oct. 3 after discovering it on the porch of an abandoned house. The dinosaur was taken from the premises of a bank by a teenage prankster, but recovered in time for a weekend fall festival.Submitted

The dinosaur that disappeared

Many decades ago, dinosaur fossils were discovered in Bollinger County. The county's business and tourism leaders use the discovery as a tool to draw people into town.

One of the ways they celebrate the county's status as being home of the Missouri's official state dinosaur, Hypsibema missouriensis, is to decorate wooden dinosaurs and place them in different places throughout the year. It's a fun photo-op for the kids.

One day, when the creator of one of the wooden creatures went to retrieve the decoration from an area bank, it was missing.

After an investigation, a teenager at the high school was found to be the dino bandit. He had taken the dinosaur as a prank and left it on the porch of an abandoned house. Which, of course, was better than tossing it into a pond. The prankster was identified, gave up the location of the dinosaur and was not charged for his mischief.

To paraphrase Jurassic Park's Dr. Ian Malcolm: Perhaps the young man was so preoccupied with whether or not he could, he didn't stop to think if he should.

Gone in more than 60 seconds

In October, several thieves stole seven cars from the Dodge dealership in Cape Girardeau.

It's one of the largest thefts to ever occur in Cape Girardeau. Seven cars, worth an estimated $850,000, were taken from the dealership. Three of those vehicles were recovered. One person was taken into custody. (The value of the cars was not explained in detail; the newspaper could not confirm how seven cars could be worth on average of more than $100,000, or approximately the same as two drive-thru value meals.)

The would-be thieves broke into the dealership lobby. Surveillance footage shows four thieves in hoodies and masks walking throughout the lobby and rummaging through desks and different places for keys to the vehicles.

The remaining four cars that were not accounted for were two 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcats, a 2023 Dodge Charger Scat Pack and a 2023 Dodge Ram 1500 TRX.

Police took a juvenile into custody not long after the thefts. The juvenile was taken into custody by St. Louis Metro on unrelated charges, according to Cape Girardeau Police Department spokesman Bobby Newton. No suspects have been formally charged.

No word if Randall "Memphis" Raines is a person of interest. No word, either, if officials have searched Capaha Pond.