A former Potosi man has been arrested and charged in connection with the murder of John Parton of High Ridge, who disappeared in May 2021. Parton was 19 when he was allegedly shot and killed.
Thomas E. “Tedo” Gamble of Baton Rouge, La., was arrested on May 1 in Port Allen, La., by the Port Allen Police and U.S. Marshals. As of May 10, he was being held in the West Baton Rouge (La.) Jail while awaiting extradition, the Missouri State Highway Patrol reported.
Gamble was charged on April 26 by the St. Francois County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office with first-degree murder, a class A felony; tampering with physical evidence, a class E felony; abandonment of a corpse, a class E felony; and armed criminal action, an unclassified felony, court records show.
A class A felony is punishable by 10 to 30 years or life in prison. A class E felony carries a penalty of up to four years in prison, and an unclassified felony is punishable by three to 15 years in prison.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and Highway Patrol investigated the case.
Gamble allegedly shot and killed Parton on May 18, 2021, while the two were in a 2012 Toyota Camry that was traveling south on Hwy. 67 near Leadington in St. Francois County. Gamble allegedly burned Parton’s corpse in a wooded area near a home on Pendelton Road, the case’s probable-cause statement said.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office started investigating Parton’s disappearance on May 28, 2021. Investigators were told Parton was last seen on May 16, 2021, the report said.
On Jan. 7, 2022, the Sheriff’s Office were told Parton was shot and killed by Gamble, and a witness told detectives on March 22, 2024, that Gamble admitted to shooting Parton with a 9-milimeter Taurus G2C gun and burning the body in a bathtub, according to the report.
On April 9, 2024, a man told Sheriff’s Office detective that he was driving the Camry when Gamble shot Parton. The man told investigators that they day before the alleged murder, Gamble and Parton stole money and drugs from a home in Jefferson County, the report said.
The day of the alleged burglary, the three then drove to St. Francois County and bought three 9-milimeter Taurus G2C guns, according to the report.
On the day of the alleged murder, the witness, Parton and Gamble were scheduled to complete a landscaping job in High Ridge, but they didn’t work because it was raining. While traveling near Leadington, Gamble who was in the rear passenger’s seat, shot Parton, who was sitting in the front passenger’s seat, the probable-cause statement said.
Parton’s body was initially dumped in a creek in Bismarck. However, the witness and Gamble drove to the home on Pendelton Road, where they got a carpet and a pickup, and they then drove back to the creek, wrapped Parton’s body in the carpet and put the body in the pickup’s bed, the report said.
A woman who was at the Pendelton Road home the day of the alleged murder, told Highway Patrol investigators on April 23 that Gamble told her the he killed Parton. She also said she believed Gamble burned the body in the wooded area because he kept traveling from the house to the woods on a four-wheeler, was covered in soot and took a shovel and rake into the wooded area, according to the report.
On April 23, 2024, Highway Patrol investigators found the Camry that Parton was allegedly shot and killed in. However, the original front passenger’s seat had been replaced because it was damaged, the report said.
On the next day, investigators found the original seat, which had a bullet hole in it. A bullet also was found in the dashboard of the Camry, according to the report.
As of May 10, Parton’s body has not been located, the Highway Patrol reported.