A 21-year-old Dittmer man has been charged with murder and four other felonies for allegedly shooting and killing a man and injuring another man after a group of people through eggs at his vehicle in a shopping plaza off High Ridge Boulevard in High Ridge, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office reported.
Robert Michael Kalbach has been charged with first-degree murder and first-degree assault as well as three felony counts of unlawful use of a weapon. He was being held today, Nov. 7, without bond at the Jefferson County Jail in Hillsboro, according to jail records.
Kalbach is accused of shooting and killing Joseph Schertler, 26, of Cedar Hill, the Sheriff’s Office reported.
According to the case’s probable-cause statement, deputies were called at about 8:30 p.m. Nov. 5 to the parking lot of a business in the 2800 block of High Ridge Boulevard. Schertler and another man were found suffering from apparent gunshot wounds.
Schertler and the other man were transported to area hospitals with serious injuries. Schertler was pronounced dead at a hospital, the report said.
The Sheriff’s Office has not provided information about the other man or his condition.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, Kalbach drove to a business and began arguing with a group of people, which included Schertler and the other alleged victim.
Members of the group reportedly threw eggs at Kalbach’s vehicle, and he allegedly fired multiple gunshots while still in the vehicle. Kalbach drove away after allegedly shooting at the group and injuring Schertler and the other man, the Sheriff’s Office reported.
Kalbach was arrested at his home, and investigators found evidence outside the High Ridge business and in Kalbach’s vehicle that was consistent with a shooting, a detective wrote in the probable-cause statement.
In a Facebook post, Dave’s Diner, which is in the Krieg Plaza shopping center off High Ridge Boulevard, said the shooting occurred in its parking. The restaurant’s post said none of its employees or customers were involved in the shooting, but employees “did all they could to help assist” after the incident.
Schertler’s shooting death is the 15th connected to 13 homicide investigations the Sheriff’s Office has conducted this year. There were a total of five homicides reported in Jefferson County last year, down from 11 homicides in 2024.
The shooting death also was the second homicide deputies investigated on Nov. 5.
At about 9 a.m. Nov. 5, deputies were sent to a home in the 3100 block of Hwy. 61 in the R-7 area south of Festus, where they found Dawn M. Capstick, 56, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. She was pronounced dead at the home.
Dawn Capstick’s husband, Todd Michael Capstick, 55, was arrested about an hour after the alleged shooting by members of the U.S. Marshal’s Office in Cape Girardeau County after he was located with the assistance of the Flock license-plate reading camera system, the Sheriff’s Office reported.
Todd Capstick has been charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. As of this morning, Nov. 7, he was being held without bond in the Jefferson County Jail in Hillsboro, jail records show.