A Fairdealing woman will serve two concurrent five-year sentences in the Missouri Department of Corrections after her guilty plea Tuesday for her role in the July 2019 death of a Doniphan man.
Accompanied by her attorney, Matt Edmundson, Schylar Alexis Tubbs withdrew her previous not guilty plea and pleaded guilty as charged to the Class B felony of first-degree kidnapping and the Class C felony of first-degree involuntary manslaughter before 36th Circuit Presiding Judge Michael Pritchett.
Tubbs is the third of five people charged in the death of Daniel Lee Richardson to plead guilty, while a sixth person is charged with tampering with physical evidence.
According to earlier reports, Tubbs, Jerad Lynn Lloyd, David B. Scrivner, Dawn Alexis Lloyd and Cody Allen Payne were charged in Richardson’s death, while Derek Bunyard of Doniphan was charged with tampering with physical evidence.
Dawn Lloyd and Jerad Lloyd already have pleaded guilty to their roles in the case while the others are awaiting their trials.
The charges against Tubbs stemmed from an investigation by the Missouri State Highway Patrol and Ripley County Sheriff’s Department.
Earlier reports state a confidential informant relayed to highway patrol investigators they had been told Richardson had been murdered.
According to MSHP Trooper Shannon Sitton’s probable cause statement at the time, the K Highway Fire Department responded to a fire at an abandoned residence off County Road 21N-18, about 10 miles north of Doniphan, around 2:40 a.m. July 22, 2019, and put it out.
Richardson’s remains, as well as a propane torch, were found in the ashes of the burned home.
Sitton said investigators later learned Payne, Scrivner, Tubbs and the Lloyds had “traveled to the Poplar Bluff area just after midnight July 21.
“The purpose of the trip was to locate David Richardson and assault him as retaliation for Richardson’s assault of (Jerad Lloyd’s sister).”
Richardson was found and allegedly was lured into the vehicle by Tubbs. Once inside, the others “began assaulting Richardson by punching and slapping him as they drove away from Poplar Bluff and into Ripley County,” Sitton said.
Upon arriving at Scrivner’s home, everyone exited the vehicle, leaving Richardson tied up inside.
“Approximately one hour later,” Sitton said, “Scrivner, Payne and J. Lloyd returned to the vehicle and found Richardson not moving.”
The three, Sitton reported, removed Richardson from the vehicle and placed him inside a cardboard barrel.
The next evening, Sitton said, Payne and Jerad Lloyd returned to Scrivner’s residence and they, along with Scrivner, “loaded the barrel into the bed of a Ford Ranger truck owned by Scrivner.”
The barrel was taken to the abandoned house, where it was unloaded and used tires placed on top of it.
“Scrivner lighted a propane torch and laid it next to the barrel,” Sitton said, “igniting the barrel and tires, and ultimately, causing the home to burn.”