Drexel, Missouri

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Drexel is a city in Bates and Cass County, Missouri. The population was 1,090 at the 2000 census.

1 Geography
2 Demographics
3 News Articles related to Drexel, Missouri
4 External links

[edit] Geography

Drexel is located at 38°28′50″N, 94°36′28″W (38.480611, -94.607725)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.0 km² (0.8 mi²). 1.9 km² (0.8 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it (3.85%) is water.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 1,090 people, 439 households, and 303 families residing in the city. The population density was 561.1/km² (1,454.6/mi²). There were 458 housing units at an average density of 235.8/km² (611.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 98.44% White, 0.46% African American, 0.46% Native American, 0.18% Asian, 0.09% from other races, and 0.37% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.64% of the population.

There were 439 households out of which 36.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.5% were married couples living together, 7.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.8% were non-families. 28.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.07.

In the city the population was spread out with 29.1% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 22.0% from 45 to 64, and 13.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 97.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $39,219, and the median income for a family was $44,659. Males had a median income of $37,404 versus $22,404 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,207. About 4.9% of families and 7.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.5% of those under age 18 and 10.1% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] News Articles related to Drexel, Missouri

© 2006 The Associated Press - A Missouri man who police say confessed to killing, dismembering and burning the bodies of seven men in his bedroom fireplace was charged Sunday, the 20th of August, 2006 with one count of murder.

Michael Lee Shaver Jr., 33, was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action related to a killing in fall 2001.

Shaver, who police say spontaneously confessed after he was arrested following a failed carjacking, told investigators that he had shot and killed seven people at his residence during drug transactions so he could take their money and drugs, Cass County Sheriff’s Capt. Chuck Stocking said.

Shaver claimed that after he killed the men — all between the ages of 20 and 40 and from the Kansas City area — he dismembered the bodies, burned the parts in a fireplace in his bedroom, then used a hammer to crush large bones and skulls, Stocking said.

Shaver said he then spread the bone fragments around his back yard.

Investigators found bone fragments from two people Saturday on the plot of land northeast of Drexel in western Missouri, and were scouring the property for additional victims.

Authorities aren’t ruling out the possibility that he is exaggerating about the killings.

“He can say that he killed 50, but we have to prove that he actually did,” Stocking said.

Shaver was arrested Friday after he lost control of his vehicle and wrecked, Stocking said. Shaver and his passenger, Nathan Wasmer, 27, tried to carjack a witness, but fled after they couldn’t get into the woman’s vehicle, Stocking said.

The witness told a 911 dispatcher that the two men were armed with guns. The men were tracked down to a residential area, where Wasmer surrendered after an hour-long standoff and Shaver was found about a half-hour later hiding in a nearby yard, officials said.

Stocking said Shaver told deputies as he was being placed into a patrol car that he had knowledge of human remains on the property where he lives, and that he wanted to talk to someone about it.

“It was a spontaneous statement he made while he was being interviewed for the carjacking,” said Stocking.

“I didn’t believe him,” Stocking said. “I just flat didn’t believe him.”

The bone fragments that have been identified as human by a forensic anthropologist were 1- to 1½-inches in diameter. The fragments found so far had been on or near the surface of the ground, said Cass County Sheriff’s Cpl. Kevin Tieman.

“There are no areas where we are going to have to do heavy digging,” he said.

Tieman refused to say why investigators suspect six bodies are on the property, but said residents should not be concerned that a serial killer was in the area, or that the killings were random.

“The common thread between the suspect and the victims was some sort of drug activity,” Tieman said. But he said the victims’ identities and how they died have not been established.

The deaths occurred over about five years, during the time the suspect lived in the house, investigators said. The most recent remains are several months old, Tieman said.

Sheriff Dwight Diehl said it would be difficult to identify the victims. “It’s not uncommon for people in the drug trade to disappear for months or years,” he said.

Neighbors described the suspect as a heavy drinking, loud, unfriendly man who they believed was involved in criminal activity.

“It’s just all the traffic,” neighbor Russ Feeback said. “Everyone likes it quiet and he’s out here hollering and screaming. And every once in a while there would be a gunshot.”

The sheriff said three to four people lived in the rental property but he wouldn’t discuss their relationship.

Tieman said county officers had responded to complaints about the residents of the property about a dozen times in the past five years.

“We hadn’t been looking at him for anything like this,” Tieman said of the jailed suspect. “We hadn’t been looking at anything like this, period.”