Wappapello man accused in shooting death of his girlfriend

WAPPAPELLO — A Wappapello man was arrested early Thursday morning in the shooting death of his girlfriend.

At about 1:05 a.m., the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department received a call of “shots fired on Pisos Point Road at Wappapello,” said Sheriff Dean Finch. The call, he said, had been made by a neighbor.

When deputies arrived, Finch said, Bobbie Leroy Aden, 54, “answered the door covered in blood. He stated his girlfriend was dead.”

Finch identified Aden’s girlfriend as Lelena Kay Guard, 52, of Poplar Bluff. An autopsy is set for 9:30 a.m. Friday in Farmington.

Aden, who was detained, told deputies “his girlfriend had shot herself, and he ran to her, slipped in the blood (and) fell down by her,” Finch said. “She was still gurgling. He shot her.”

Aden, Finch said, was taken into custody on suspicion of first-degree murder.

Finch said he arrived just before 2 a.m. and requested assistance from investigators with the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control in processing the scene.

The shooting, Finch said, took place in the kitchen area of a small camper trailer, where Aden was staying.

Finch said a handgun was seized as evidence.

At this time, Finch said, investigators “know she has at least one wound.”

The investigation, he said, basically is complete pending the findings from Friday’s autopsy.

Aden is being held in the Wayne County Jail pending the filing of formal charges.

Further details were not available by press time.