Timmy Miller, 52, of High Ridge has been sentenced to six years in prison for helping hide the body of a St. Louis man who was beaten to death with a baseball bat in June 2019, according to court records.
Jason Isbell, 44, of Hillsboro allegedly beat the man, Samuel Israelsen, to death at a home north of High Ridge, and nearly two years later his body was found in a wooded area west of High Ridge, court documents show.
Israelsen was 41 at the time of his death.
Isbell has been charged with first-degree murder, a class A felony punishable by death or life in prison without the possibility of probation or parole, as well as armed criminal action, an unclassified felony punishable by a minimum of three years in prison. A jury trial is scheduled for April 26, according to court records.
Miller pleaded guilty to abandonment of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence in a felony prosecution. On Feb. 22, Jefferson County Div. 4 Circuit Judge Brenda Stacey sentenced him to four years in prison for abandoning a corpse and two years in prison for tampering with evidence. The sentences will be served consecutively, for a total of six years, courts papers indicate.
Jefferson County assistant prosecuting attorney Travis D. Partney handled the case.
Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office deputies found Israelsen’s decomposing body on April 6, 2021, wrapped in tarps and carpet and hidden under a pile of wood on property off East Osage Drive near Twin River Road west of High Ridge, authorities said.
On April 7, 2021, an autopsy was performed on Israelsen’s body, and a large “St. Louis” tattoo was found on the left arm, which is how Israelsen was identified as the victim, the probable-cause statement in the case said.
The autopsy also concluded he had suffered extensive head trauma.
Miller was arrested April 8, 2021, in Wayne County. He told investigators he was getting ready to travel to Dallas, the report said.
According to the report, Israelsen’s mother reported her son missing on July 31, 2019, after he was last seen June 1, 2019, being dropped off at a home on Ridgedale Drive, which is not far from where his body was discovered.
Isbell reportedly was at the home during that time, the report said.
Sheriff’s Office spokesman Grant Bissell said deputies previously had been called to the home on Ridgedale Drive because of suspected drug activity.
After Isbell was arrested on April 7, 2021, he allegedly admitted to investigators that he struck Israelsen in the head with a bat several times until Israelsen stopped moving, the probable-cause statement said.
Isbell previously pleaded guilty to at least two felony charges and a misdemeanor charge, according to court documents.
After Miller was arrested, he told investigators he saw Isbell hit Israelsen with the bat several times. He also said he contacted two other men at the home to clean up the back patio where Israelsen was beaten, according to the report.
Miller told investigators they wrapped Israelsen's body in carpet and tarps and then put the body on a loose car hood that was attached to a four-wheeler. The body was then driven to a nearby field and put under a wood pile, the report said.
Miller told investigators that Isbell said he was going to burn the body, but he never did, according to the report.