Two people were arrested and booked into the Barry County Jail for allegedly murdering a man and attempting to dispose of his body by burning it inside his car.
Brandy Coburn, 34, of Verona, and Jimmy Taylor, 46, of Exeter, are both charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action, abandoning a corpse, and tampering with physical evidence.
Taylor was booked into jail on Friday, March 21, and Coburn on Wednesday, March 26.
The victim was identified by the Barry County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) as Marvin Lance McCullough, 55, from Aurora.
According to the BCSO, the Sheriff’s Office was notified on Thursday, March 20, that a body had been discovered in the trunk of a burned vehicle; the body was later identified as McCullough’s using DNA.
The car was discovered to be registered to McCullough’s mother. She informed authorities that McCullough had her car, but she had not seen him in several days.
According to the case’s probable cause statement, McCullough was murdered in Verona on either Monday, March 10, or Tuesday, March 11. An investigator in the case reported that Taylor admitted in a post-Miranda interview that he knew Coburn wanted to lure McCullough over to her home to “set him up.”
He claimed that he handed McCullough a flashlight to inspect some items in Coburn’s camper and was standing behind him when he was shot in the back of the head.
(In a separate probable cause statement, he claimed that Coburn shot McCullough in the back of the head while his attention was diverted).
He also admitted that he and Coburn placed McCullough’s body in the camper and left it for three days, during which time he drove McCullough’s car several times.
Meanwhile, in a separate probable cause statement, Witness One informed an investigator that Coburn told her that she (Coburn) shot McCullough in the head.
A second witness, identified as Witness Two, claimed Coburn also told him she shot McCullough in the back of the head and persuaded him to help dispose of McCullough’s remains.
Witness Two stated that he assisted in loading McCullough’s body into the trunk of his (McCullough’s) car, and that he, Coburn, and Taylor towed McCullough’s car to Shell Knob before steering it off the road to the bottom of a hill in Shell Knob.
According to Witness Two, Taylor then set fire to the car, and the three of them fled in Witness Two’s truck.
A search warrant was executed on Coburn’s camper, and blood with a DNA match to McCullough was reportedly discovered.
The investigator also interviewed Coburn, who stated that Taylor shot McCullough.
As of press time, Coburn and Taylor were still in custody at the Barry County Jail. Both are scheduled to appear in court on Thursday, April 24, for a bond hearing.