The state is expected to conclude its case today in the trial of a Doniphan man accused of the 2010 murders of two elderly couples found dead inside their burned homes.
The trial of Keith A. Boyles began Monday in Butler County with Presiding Circuit Judge Michael Pritchett hearing opening statements from Assistant Attorney General Kevin Zoellner and Boyles’ attorney, Thomas Marshall with the Capital Public Defender’s Office.
Testimony then followed from eight witnesses, including Boyles’ codefendant, Chantale Youngblood, who was his girlfriend in the summer of 2010 when the alleged crimes happened.
The 26-year-old is standing trial on four Class A felonies of first-degree murder and four unclassified felonies of armed criminal action in connection with the deaths of Gladys Irene Piatt, 80, and Loyd Eugene Piatt, 77, as well as Edgar Atkinson, 81, and Bonnie Chase, 69.
Dressed in an orange prison uniform and shackled, Chantale Youngblood, now 23, testified for nearly 2 1/2 hours.
In her testimony, she said, her dad, David Youngblood, “had an idea to get money; he was planning to rob a bank, The Bank of Grandin” and then leave the country with the money.
__Father directs murder__
She said her father wanted to “test” her and Boyles prior to the robbery by having them kill the Piatts and burn their house.
Chantale Youngblood said her dad drove her and Boyles near the Piatt home and dropped them off on June 23, 2010.
“We walked to the house,” she said. “My mom and dad, they were going to the pool hall, so they had an alibi.”
The witness said she and Boyles walked to the door and knocked as the Piatts “weren’t expecting us. … “
Once inside, she alleged Boyles shot Loyd Piatt and then his wife.
“He told me to go find some matches … ,” said Chantale Youngblood, who indicated a couple hundred dollars was taken from her aunt’s purse. Chantale Youngblood was related to the first victims through her father’s side of the family.
After being picked up, she said, they went “back to our house. (Dad) asked us what happened. We told him … we burned the house. He was OK with it after he got the money. ”
The witness said her parents later went to the Piatt home after being notified about the fire.
__Second couple killed__
Having known Atkinson and Chase from flea markets and auctions, Chantale Youngblood said, her dad and Boyles were armed with handguns when they went to the couple’s home July 10, 2010.
The witness said the couple was outside when they arrived, and Boyles and her dad entered the home, while she and a friend remained in the car listening to music. The friend was not been charged in the case and was not among those called to testify Monday.
Chantale Youngblood reported hearing three to four gunshots, which were “spaced out. … Keith came out and told us we need to … come inside.”
She said she and her friend entered the home “after the fact.”
Atkinson, she said, was laying in the kitchen floor. She said she did not see Chase.
Money and about 10 guns were stolen from the home, she said.
Chantale Youngblood confirmed she heard a conversation between her dad and Boyles in which “my dad said he shot Bonnie and (Boyles) shot Edgar.”
After her arrest, “I told (law enforcement) what my dad told us to say,” which was that she knew nothing about the deaths, Chantale Youngblood said.
“If you were arrested, (you) were told to lie,” Zoellner asked.
“Yes,” she replied.
Although she initially lied, the witness said, she later reported Boyles had “pulled the trigger” because “that’s what happened.”
On cross-examination, Marshall asked Chantale Youngblood whether she was an “honest person.”
“I try to be,” replied Chantale Youngblood, who indicated she had told the truth in court Monday.
The witness reiterated she initially had lied to the highway patrol … “because that was what my dad told me to do.”
Marshall accused Chantale Youngblood of blaming his client only after then Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Dennis Overbey had told her someone in her family needed to come forward and help themselves and that she was the least culpable of those involved as she didn’t shoot anyone.
“That’s what happened … I’m trying to be honest,” said Chantale Youngblood, who indicated testifying wasn’t easy for her.
“It would be easy to blame your dad. It’s hard because you care for Keith; you still love him,” Zoellner said.
“Yes,” she said.
In response to questions about her deal, the witness confirmed she pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree murder and was sentenced to one 20-year prison sentence. Sentencing on the remaining counts was deferred pending her “truthful” testimony against Boyles.
__Homes in flames__
Ripley County Sheriff Mike Barton and former deputy Jeremy Walter testified the Piatt home was “fully engulfed” in flames when they arrived there on June 23, 2010.
Barton said the Piatts’ truck and car were found at the home, leading authorities to believe they were home.
David Youngblood, who was the Piatts’ nephew, Barton said, arrived at the home at about 10:45 p.m. and indicated he had talked to Irene Piatt at about 9 p.m.
David Youngblood, who is serving four consecutive life sentences for first-degree murder for the deaths, further reported to Barton his aunt “mainly sat/slept” on a couch which was inside the front door, while her husband sat in a chair.
Barton said two bodies, later identified as the Piatts, were found inside the home. One was found near the front door, while the other was “more to the left.”
Walter said the Atkinson/Chase home also was “fully engulfed” when he arrived there on July 10, 2010. He said he assisted in putting out the fire, as well as removing the bodies.
“A shell was found under the first body,” said Walter, who later assisted the patrol in executing a search warrant for the Youngblood home.
Walter said he and a trooper were searching a “back bedroom” when they lifted a box springs and weapons were found underneath.
__Autopsies reveal bullet wound__
At the time of the Piatts’ deaths, Ripley County Coroner Mike Jackson said, “we chose not to do an autopsy;” however, autopsies were performed on Atkinson and Chase and later the Piatts after their bodies were exhumed.
Atkinson’s body, according to Dr. Russell Deidiker, suffered extensive fire damage, both from heat and flames and had gunshot wounds to his head and abdomen.
There was “no aspiration during the fire,” which indicates Atkinson was dead before the fire started, Deidiker said.
Chase, he said, also had extensive injuries.
Based on his examination of Chase’s body, “I could not determine a cause of death,” but ruled it as a homicide “based on my findings she was dead prior to the fire,” Deidiker said.
The Piatts, Deidiker said, also had fire damage to their bodies, as well as “decomposition going on.”
Loyd Piatt, he said, had a gunshot wound to the left chest area. Irene Piatt also died of a gunshot wound, he said.
A bullet reportedly was recovered from Loyd Piatt’s body, while bullet fragments were recovered from his wife’s body during the autopsies.
__Arrests made__
Overbey said during the investigation of Atkinson and Chase’s deaths, “we received information that David Youngblood, (his wife) Melissa Youngblood, Chantale Youngblood and Keith Boyles had been involved in the homicide” involving the Piatts.
The elder Youngbloods, he said, were found and arrested at their home west of Doniphan.
A Nissan Pathfinder driven by Chantale Youngblood, was stopped on U.S. 160, and she and Boyles were arrested and her younger brother, Dakota, taken into protective custody, Overbey said.
On cross-examination, Overbey described Boyles as being cooperative, but later indicated “he gave me a false alibi.”
In processing the Atkinson/Chase home, retired patrol Sgt. Don Windham said, a gasoline can and a melted fuel can were found near the bodies.
Also found, he said, were two rifles and a shotgun, which had burned up inside the home.
“A couple of items were underneath the bodies, possibly bullets,” said Windham, who indicated both were found in sifted debris.
Stysha Youngblood corroborated her sister’s account of their dad’s bank robbery plan, as well as the pool hall alibi the night of the Piatts’ death.
At one point, the now 23-year-old said, she was told to burn clothing and shoes after the homicides.