Douglas County fugitive found hiding in Theodosia home


DOYLE SHELTON

Ozark County Sheriff’s Deputies Seth Miller, Kyle Hannaford and Eric Bales helped Douglas County Sheriff Chris Degase apprehend Doyle Wayne Shelton Jr., a 46-year-old Ava man, from a residence in Theodosia on Sept. 24 after a week-long search for the wanted fugitive.

“Sheriff Degase credits the citizens of Douglas, Ozark and Taney counties for the apprehension of Shelton,” the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.

 

The apprehension

The team of Ozark County officers, along with DeGase, a Douglas County Deputy and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office K9, Amigo, surrounded the Theodosia home at 11 p.m. last Thursday. 

DeGase knocked on the residence door, and a man reportedly answered. The sheriff asked if Shelton was inside the residence, and the man confirmed that he was.

“Shelton attempted to exit several doors on the rear of the building but soon found he was surrounded,” the DCSO news release said. “Degase yelled into the residence in an attempt to get Shelton to surrender peacefully.”

When Shelton did not exit the home, DeGase and Miller entered the home. The officers found Shelton inside, arrested him and took him into custody without incident. 

Shelton was transported to the Douglas County Jail, where he is being held on a $20,000 cash-only bond. He has been charged with first-degree burglary and fourth-degree assault in a Douglas County case. 

If Shelton posts bail, he is ordered to have no contact with two women involved in the case and will be required to be supervised by Court Probationary Ser-vices with drug testing twice a week. 

 

 

Hiding in the bushes

According to the probable cause statement filed in that case, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office received a report from a woman who lives on Douglas County Road 437 at 12:19 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 3, saying  a man on a dark green four-wheeler was hiding in nearby bushes and watching her. 

The woman said the man, who was wearing a black hat and trying to hide his face from her, was acting very strangely and appeared to be under the influence of some type of controlled substance. 

When the woman confronted him, the man reportedly yelled from the bushes that his four-wheeler had run out of gas. She said she yelled back that she’d bring him some fuel, but the man “took off” running toward a creek behind the woman’s property. 

She said a short time later she heard a four-wheeler start and drive across a washed-out bridge on the county road.

 

Entering a home, acting inappropriately

A couple of hours later, at 2:43 p.m., the sheriff’s department received a call from the woman’s close neighbor, who reported an incident with Shelton. 

The woman at the residence, on Douglas County Road 436, said Shelton pulled up to her residence wearing a dark bluish hat and was driving a dark green four-wheeler. 

When Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputy Cpl. Taylor Wallace responded to the woman’s home, she reportedly told him that at approximately 10:22 a.m. someone was knocking on her door. The sound woke her up, and she answered to find Shelton standing at the front of the home. 

The woman told Shelton that her fiancé was not home and that he needed to come back another time. The report says the woman’s fiancé had worked with Shelton in the past. 

Shelton reportedly acted as if he hadn’t heard her, walked past the woman and entered the home. The woman said she told Shelton he wasn’t allowed inside the house and told him to leave. 

He reportedly ignored the woman and walked to the home’s bathroom. 

The woman reportedly texted her fiancé and told him Shelton was inside the home and wouldn’t leave. 

A short time later, Shelton exited the bathroom, entered the living room and sat down on the home’s couch. The woman reportedly told Shelton to leave several more times, and he refused.

The woman said Shelton continued to leave the living room and go into the bathroom several times. When he returned to the living room, the woman said Shelton “would just look at her.” She said it made her feel very uncomfortable and scared.

The woman said she told him again to leave, and he left the living room, walked into the couple’s bedroom and a bathroom off the bedroom. 

When he returned to the living room, Shelton reportedly came up behind the woman and tried to rub her shoulders. The woman jumped back and told Shelton not to touch her. 

“[She] stated that she was fearful at this time that Doyle Shelton was in fact going to sexually assault her,” the court document says.

After the woman stepped away from him, Shelton reportedly tossed his cell phone at her and said “download this.” 

The woman said the phone’s screen showed a pornographic video.

The woman reportedly threw the phone back at Shelton and told him she was calling her fiancé. As she was dialing the number, Shelton then reportedly got up and left the home, locking the door behind him. 

The woman said after he left, she noticed that an adult item had been removed from the couple’s bedroom. 

The woman told the officer she was very afraid of Shelton after he’d entered the residence without permission, tried to show her pornographic videos and touched her without consent. 

She told the officer she wanted to press charges. 

 

Repeated behavior

Public defender Laura King has entered her appearance as Shelton’s attorney in the case. Douglas County Prosecuting Attorney Chris Wade is representing the state. The case is set before Associate Judge Elizabeth Bock. 

The current case isn’t the first time Shelton has been charged with burglary. According to the probable cause statement in the case, Shelton was arrested for burglary and theft four previous times, in 1995, 2010, 2011 and 2017.

Shelton was given a suspended sentence in the 2017 case and was ordered to enter a long-term treatment center within the Missouri Department of Corrections. He was given a 15-year backup sentence, which could be executed by Carter if he chooses.

Ozark County Times

504 Third Steet
PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

Phone: (417) 679-4641
Fax: (417) 679-3423