On the afternoon of June 26, 2015, 84-year-old Betty Lou Knight was sitting on the back porch of her Oakville, Missouri home with her husband, Dale, when a single gunshot struck her in the neck. She collapsed and was pronounced dead at the scene after emergency responders arrived. Her husband was quickly cleared of suspicion.

St. Louis County detectives treated the death as a homicide and pursued leads showing the fatal round likely came from a distance. Their investigation focused on a nearby neighbor, Raymond Bodicky, after reports said he had been shooting at squirrels on his property, in violation of local ordinances. Prosecutors declined to bring criminal charges, saying the evidence did not establish the required intent or recklessness for conviction.

Betty’s family filed a wrongful death suit; in May 2016 a judge approved a settlement ordering Bodicky to pay $100,000. If anyone has information about that afternoon or recalls hearing shots in the neighborhood that day, please share what is known.