On December 10, 1991, Moniteau County Reserve Deputy Sheriff Leslie Blaine Roark, 27, was killed while responding to a domestic disturbance a couple of miles south of Jamestown, Missouri. After speaking with the resident, Oyfeider James Johnson, on his porch, Deputy Roark returned to his patrol vehicle. Johnson then emerged and shot Roark twice with a pistol; after Roark was heard moaning, Johnson shot him again in the head. Roark was taken to a local hospital and died the following day.

The shooting of Deputy Roark was the opening act of a multi-county rampage. Johnson drove to Clarksburg and, through a window, fired into a Christmas party at the home of Moniteau County Sheriff Ken Jones, killing the sheriff’s wife, Pam Jones. He also shot and killed Cooper County Sheriff Charles Smith and Miller County Deputy Sheriff Sandra Wilson, and wounded Moniteau County deputy Russell Borts, who survived. A manhunt involving more than 200 officers from 15 departments ended when Johnson took an elderly woman hostage, then surrendered after she alerted authorities during an exit to a Christmas party.

Was anyone in central Missouri in December 1991 aware of signs that something like this could happen, or did neighbors and colleagues notice anything unusual about Johnson beforehand?