Hearing gives a glimpse into evidence, defense strategy about Thornfield homicide

Further details emerged about the July 15, 2020, shooting death of Gainesville resident Kameron Stillwell during an April 14 preliminary hearing before Associate Circuit Judge Raymond Gross. The hearing was for Timothy Kyle Sprague, who is now charged with Stillwell’s murder among other felony charges involved with the incident. 

 

The purpose of a preliminary hearing

In Missouri, all felony cases begin with a preliminary hearing, a sort of mini-trial in which testimony is taken under oath in the lower associate, or Division II court. The preliminary hearing ensures that there is enough evidence for the case to move forward to the higher Division I court, but it does not declare whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty of the charges. 

The burden of proof at a preliminary hearing is low at “probable cause” compared with a trial, where it is required to be “without a reasonable doubt.” The defense and prosecution often present some of the evidence or trial strategy at the preliminary hearing but often do not present all of the evidence in the case. 

Sprague’s preliminary hearing included eye witness testimony from two women, Kimberly Morris and Kaylee Isaac, who were reportedly at Morris’ home when Stillwell was shot there. The women reportedly left with Sprague when he fled the scene to Oklahoma, where the trio were eventually found and arrested. 

Sprague, who is known as Kyle to acquaintances, appeared with attorney Christopher Swatosh. The state was represented by Ozark County Prosecuting Attorney John Garrabrant. 

 

Bound over on several felonies, 

but two were dismissed

Going into the hearing, Sprague was charged with second-degree murder, first-degree robbery, two counts of kidnapping, three counts of armed criminal action, unlawful possession of a firearm and abandonment of a corpse. 

After hearing Morris’ testimony, Garrabrant chose to dismiss the charge of kidnapping and armed criminal action in connection with the alleged kidnapping of Morris. The charges of kidnapping and armed criminal action against Isaac were not dismissed.

At the conclusion of the hearing, Gross bound Sprague over to Division I court, where he will be arraigned before Circuit Judge Craig Carter on May 5. The higher court is where Sprague will make the choice to submit a plea or choose to go to trial for the allegations.

 

Self-defense or murder?

The case hinges on the question of whether the shooting was, in fact, murder or if Stillwell was killed by Sprague in an act of self-defense or in defense of Morris and Isaac. 

“In my opinion, Tim Sprague is a hero,” Swatosh told the Times after the hearing. “Tim Sprague saved his own life and the lives of Kim and Kaylee. He stopped a guy who was hopped up on meth, with other drugs in his system, had been known to fire a gun at Kim, assaulted her so bad she was in the hospital twice and he’d been sent to prison…. For all they knew, he’d come to finish the job he’d started. Everything [Sprague] did was to protect himself and the women in that house. There are two sides to every story, and the public doesn’t know Mr. Sprague’s side of the story yet. When they hear it, I think they’ll have a much difference perception of what actually happened.”

Swatosh confirmed that the defense will argue that the shooting was justified through the “Castle Doctrine,” sometimes referred to as the “stand your ground law,” which allows a person in Missouri to use deadly force in self-defense when an intruder enters their home with the intention of harming them or someone else. 

Garrabrant declined to provide further comment after the hearing, but during his closing argument he explained that the evidence clearly shows that the shooting was, in fact, murder. 

“We have seen people act in self-defense and the defense of others,” Garrabrant said. “We know what they do. What they don’t do is, they don’t prevent people from providing aid to the victim. They don’t leave the scene. They don’t try to sabotage the scene. They don’t take items from the victim and keep those [items].”

 

Probable cause statement

The original probable cause statement filed by former Ozark County Sheriff’s Deputy Cpl. Curtis Dobbs said that an area resident called 911 around 1 p.m. that afternoon of July 15, 2020, after she’d driven to Morris’ residence and found the door standing open, boards removed from a window and Stillwell’s body lying on the floor inside the home. 

The report said that Dobbs responded to the residence, where he found Stillwell with three bullet wounds to his upper back. There were no exit wounds, the report says.

The sheriff’s department “pinged” Morris’ and Sprague’s cell phones, a process that can identify the closest cell phone tower the phones’ signals last used to receive reception. The phone pings showed that the two were in Arkansas near the Oklahoma border. They were arrested in Siloam Springs, Oklahoma, by law enforcement in that area. The police searched the suspect’s vehicle and motel room and found a .38-caliber revolver and a 9mm semi-automatic handgun.

“Both women told me that, for several days prior to July 15, 2020, they had been in the company of Sprague, either at Sprague’s parents’ house on US Highway 181 in Gainesville or at Morris’ residence on County Road 850,” Dobbs wrote in the report. “I was told that, during this period, Sprague told the women that they were his property and he threatened them with physical violence should they try to leave.”

When talking with Dobbs, the women reportedly told the officer they heard a single gunshot then several more gunshots in rapid succession. The women said when they entered the room they saw Stillwell lying on his side near the window with blood on the back of his shirt. Stillwell’s hands were moving, the women said, and he appeared to be trying to breathe. 

The report says they  said they ran toward Stillwell to try to help him, but Sprague pointed the revolver at them and told them to “leave that piece of [expletive] alone,” the report says.

The report says the women said Stillwell continued to gasp for air for five to 10 minutes. Morris said at one point she tried to call 911, but Sprague told her he would shoot her next if she did.

Sprague asked the women to go and get the car while he gathered some items, the statement says. He exited the home and asked Isaac to go back into the house to get the shell casings. Sprague had reportedly taken papers listing several usernames and passwords, a billfold, a credit card and cigarettes from Stillwell’s body.

“Over the course of the next 36 hours or so, Sprague drove through Missouri into Arkansas and then to Oklahoma,” Dobbs wrote. “The women were told by Sprague that, if they did not accompany him, he would kill them and dispose of their bodies. Sprague pointed out to both women that they had seen what he had done to Stillwell, and they knew what he was capable of doing.”

 

State’s exhibits

At the start of the preliminary hearing, Garrabrant submitted three exhibits on behalf of the state. 

The first was Stillwell’s death certificate, the second was a report from a medical examiner that concluded Stillwell died as the result of four gunshot wounds, and the third was a second toxicology report, also prepared by the medical examiner, that showed the presence of methamphetamine, amphetamine and THC in Stillwell’s body at the time of the examination, which occurred sometime after the fatal shooting. 

Defense attorney Swatosh did not object to including the exhibits, and they were given to the judge to review. 

 

A woman, a boyfriend and an ex

Morris, the state’s first witness, said she’d been dating Sprague for about a month immediately following her breakup with Stillwell, whom she had dated for about nine years prior to that. 

When Garrabrant asked Morris to recount the events of the morning of the shooting, she said she was at her home on County Road 850 in Thornfield with Sprague and Isaac. 

In response to Garrabrant’s questions, Morris said Stillwell showed up and started knocking on the door. 

“Where were you when Mr. Stillwell started knocking on the door?” Garrabrant asked.

In the bedroom” she said. 

When Garrabrant asked where the front door was in relation to the bedroom window, Morris answered that it was next to the bedroom with a door connecting the two spaces. 

“Was anyone in the bedroom with you?” Garrabrant asked

“Mr. Sprague,” she said.

Morris also said, in response to questions, that Isaac was upstairs. 

She looked out the bedroom window, she said, and saw Stillwell. 

Garrabrant asked if the door had a window in it, and Morris said it did but she had a blanket over it, so she was unable to see Stillwell through it. Morris confirmed that the door was closed and locked at the time. 

“OK. What happened next?” he asked.

“I told him, ‘Go away. I don’t love you anymore,’” Morris said. 

Still answering Garrabrant’s questions, Morris  said she couldn’t see Stillwell at that point, and she wasn’t sure if he had a gun.

“And what was his response?” Garrabrant asked. 

“After I told him I didn’t love him, he said, ‘Pebbles said otherwise.’ I said, ‘She doesn’t know. I don’t talk to her anymore,’” Morris said, presumably referring to a former mutual friend nicknamed Pebbles. 

In response, she said Stillwell began kicking the door.

 

‘Ripped the board off, 

pointed the pistol inside the window’

“What happened then?” Garrabrant asked.

“He went to the window, where he ripped the board off, pointed the pistol inside the window before he entered,” she said.

Garrabrant prompted Morris to describe the layout of the home better, and she explained that a porch connects the front door area to the window that Stillwell came through. Morris said the glass window pane had been broken out of the window, and a piece of plywood was nailed or screwed to the frame to replace the glass, covering most of the area that would have allowed her to see outside.

“So he goes to the window, and then what happens?” Garrabrant asked.

“He pulled the board off and points the pistol inside and then he tries to step in,” Morris said. 

Garrabrant asked where she was when that was happening. “I was talking by the door downstairs,” she said, explaining that it was about 15 to 20 feet from the window. 

Garrabrant asked if she could see Stillwell completely, and Morris said she couldn’t. 

“What part of the body did you see?” Garrabrant asked.

“His arm and pistol,” she answered. 

Garrabrant asked Morris if Stillwell was holding a semi-automatic or revolver. 

“It wasn’t a revolver,” Morris said. 

 

A gunshot, followed by a series of gunshots

“OK, after he stuck his hand through the window, what happened?” Garrabrant asked. 

“I said, ‘No. No, Kameron!’ and I ran upstairs,” she said, clarifying that just a few stairs led to a slightly higher level of the house.

“When my foot hit the stairs, I heard one gunshot and then several, and I said, ‘Call 911,’” Morris said. “I heard, ‘If you do that, I gotta shoot you next.”

Garrabrant said he wanted Morris to describe the details one at a time. He asked if she heard one gunshot and then a series of gunshots. She said she did. He asked if she could tell a difference between the single gunshot and the others, and Morris said she couldn’t tell a difference. 

“Where were you when you heard the first gunshot? he asked.

“I was in the process of coming back into the room,” Morris replied.

Garrabrant asked if she saw any of the shots fired, and she said she did not.

“What happened then?” Garrabrant asked. 

“Kameron was facedown on the table by the window. He rolled off, and he gurgled twice. He rolled over and looked me in the eye, and I said, ‘I love you,’” Morris said, crying. 

Garrabrant asked Morris where Sprague was when she came back into the room, and she said he was still standing at the door, less than 15 feet away.

 

‘I just stood there frozen, just screaming’

Garrabrant asked if Morris tried to help Stillwell.

“No,” she said. 

“Why not?” Garrabrant asked.

“I couldn’t…,” she answered.

“Did you attempt to?” 

“I was screaming,” she said. “I didn’t know what to do. I was screaming.”

“Did you attempt to approach him?” Garrabrant asked.

“I just stood there frozen, just screaming,” she said. 

 

A gun given to Hudson

Morris told the prosecutor that Isaac was upstairs during the whole incident but eventually came down into the room after Stillwell had been shot.

“What happened when she came in the room?” Garrabrant asked.

“[Sprague] kissed the side of my head and told me it was going to be OK,” she said, adding that Sprague then told the two women to go get the car.

Morris said that, as they walked to the car, she told Isaac they could drive away,  leaving Sprague at the house. “We backed up into the driveway… and he came out,” she said.

Garrabrant asked if Sprague had anything with him when he came out of the house. 

“Items from Kameron’s pocket… wallet, some weed…,” Morris said. 

Garrabrant asked about the gun Stillwell had brought that night. “Did you see that gun again?” Garrabrant asked. 

“When I walked into the room, it was laying at his feet. He [Sprague] didn’t touch it until I was in the room,” Morris said, confirming that was before they went to get the car. 

“Did you see it again after that?” Garrabrant asked. 

Morris paused, not answering.

“Do you remember giving a statement to…,” Garrabrant began, presumably to ask about the report Morris gave  to law enforcement officers after the incident. 

“I knew where the gun went, yes,” Morris said, cutting off Garrabrant. 

“Where’d the gun go?” Garrabrant asked. 

Morris told him it was given to Toby Hudson, a friend, at the first hotel they’d stopped at after leaving the scene. Morris said she wasn’t sure where the hotel was, but she thought it was in Siloam Springs on the Arkansas - Oklahoma border. 

“Who gave the gun to Toby Hudson?” Garrabrant asked. 

“I didn’t see it,” she said. 

“How’d you know it was given to Toby Hudson?”

“Uh… just conversation,” Morris answered. 

 

‘She told me that they had found Kameron, and he was gone’

Garrabrant asked if any attempt was made to contact law enforcement about Stillwell’s body, left behind at the house. Morris said no. As questioning continued, she said Sprague drove them away in his car and that at Highways 95 and 160, they stopped to pick up Toby Hudson, and the four of them continued on to Siloam Springs.

“What did you do when you got there?” Garrabrant asked. 

“We got a hotel. I called my mom,” Morris said, tearing up. “She told me that they had found Kameron and he was gone. And I said, ‘I know,’ and I hung up.”

Morris said they left the first hotel and checked in to a second one. The next day, when she went outside to smoke a cigarette, “There was a cop outside,” she said.  

Garrabrant asked Morris if, between the time Stillwell was shot and she was taken into custody the next day, she felt like she could leave.  

“I don’t know…,” Morris responded. 

Reminding her that her conversation with the Siloam Springs police officer that day had been recorded, Garrabrant  asked if she remembered telling the officer she couldn’t leave and that she feared for her life.

“Well, I remember saying we didn’t know what to do. We were scared to leave, but we weren’t necessarily scared of Mr. Sprague,” Morris said. “We just… the whole situation was scary.”

In response to Garrabrant’s question asking if Sprague had threatened to harm her if she tried to leave, she said it wasn’t mentioned. 

He also asked about her statement to former Deputy Curtis Dobbs after they returned to Ozark County.

“Yes, and I never told him one time that he threatened me if we didn’t do what he wanted,” Morris said, adding that she “might have said I was scared to leave, but he never threatened me.”

Garrabrant asked if Morris saw Sprague with a gun after they left the scene of the shooting.

Morris said she didn’t but that she knew there were guns in the house because she had seen them there, despite her “no guns at my house” rule. Everyone at the house had one, she said, “Everybody but me.” 

“So Mr. Sprague had a gun at your house?” Garrabrant asked.

“Yes.”

“What kind of gun was it?” Garrabrant asked.

“A revolver,” Morris said. 

 

A volatile relationship

During cross-examination, defense attorney Swatosh asked about Morris’ previous relationship with Stillwell. 

“We got together after my husband was killed in a car accident,” she said, explaining that her previous husband, Zac Morris, had died in a 2012 crash. 

When Swatosh asked about her and Stillwell’s reportedly “volatile relationship.” Morris said the relationship was “equal.”  

“You beat him. He beat you?” Swatosh asked. 

“Yeah,” Morris answered, laughing.

Then Swatosh asked her about an incident when Still-well reportedly went to prison in 2018 for assaulting her. “We got into a fight. He jumped on me, stabbed me with a spoon…pistol-whipped me, left me in the attic,” Morris said, crying. “I had to drive myself to my mom’s, and she called an ambulance.”

She was treated in an area hospital, she said. 

“And Mr. Stillwell went to prison for that,” Swatosh added.  

“Yes,” she answered.

Under questioning, Morris also described another case, filed in Pulaski County, where Stillwell was again convicted of domestic violence. “Me and Kameron were fighting, and he bit my face . . . hit me, started choking me,” she said. “I bit him back, and my daughter called the police.”

Morris told Swatosh that Stillwell was about 6 feet tall and stocky and that she is about a foot shorter, at 5 feet tall. 

 

‘He was known to 

shoot at me previously’

In her testimony, Morris told the court that she’d broken up with Stillwell about 30 days prior to the shooting, and that she and Sprague had begun dating soon after. They had been living at her house for that month but were in the process of moving to Sprague’s mom’s house, where they spent about 50 percent of their time, she said. 

“Is it safe to say that if Kameron got mad, you were afraid?” Swatosh asked. 

“Yes,” Morris answered. 

“And when he was at the door, you told him to leave, but he didn’t leave, right?” Swatosh asked.

“He knew we’d always talk it out,” she said. 

“And Stillwell tore the plywood off the window to get in the house, right?” Swatosh asked.

“He pulled it off,” Morris answered. 

“And you saw him coming in with a gun,” he asked.

“I saw his pistol and then saw him. I didn’t actually see him coming in actively,” she said. 

“But you did see his arm come through the window with a pistol?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said. 

“And is that when you went running?” he asked.

“Yes. He’d been known to shoot at me previously . . . so I was just freaking out,” she said, again describing their relationship as “very volatile.” 

“Some days I’d beat him up for no reason. It was just very… we were just, we were hot,” Morris said. 

Swatosh asked if Sprague knew about Stillwell’s two convictions for domestic assault against her. 

“He knew about the Ozark County case,” Morris said. “In fact, he was at my house when Kameron football-kicked me through the window in May.”

 

At least two people on meth

Morris confirmed that she didn’t actually see Sprague fire the weapon at Stillwell but had made an assumption about the incident based on hearing a gunshot and then seeing Stillwell lying nearby with a gunshot wound.

“Did you watch Mr. Stillwell die before your eyes?” Swatosh asked. 

“I watched his soul leave his body,” Morris said, breaking down and loudly crying. 

The court took a five-minute recess to allow Morris to regain her composure before returning to the witness stand. 

Under questioning, Morris testified that she had been doing meth on July 15, the day of the shooting. She hadn’t known at the time if Stillwell had also been using meth that day, but she was aware that the toxicology report later showed that he had been. 

“Does that surprise you, given the actions of tearing the plywood off?” Swatosh asked. 

“No,” Morris said. 

“That’s something typical he’d do while high on meth? Act violent in a rage?” Swatosh asked. 

“Yes,” she said. “I have brain damage due to violence from Mr. Stillwell.”

“He punched you in the head?” Swatosh asked. 

“Kicked me, punched me,” she answered. 

 

‘So he didn’t kidnap you?’

In response to Swatosh’s questions, Morris said the vehicle was parked in the garage, out of sight, in an attempt to keep Stilwell from knowing Sprague was staying at the house. 

Stillwell had “been pulling into the driveway, throwing rocks…,” Morris said, also adding that Stillwell had run over her dog. 

She said she had tried to stop going to Gainesville to avoid Stillwell seeing her. 

“So when you went to get the car with Ms. Isaac, was there a plan, or were ya’ll just leaving?” Swatosh asked. 

“No. I didn’t know what we were doing,” Morris said. 

“Yeah… so there was no plan,” Swatosh said. “So he didn’t kidnap you and force you to go with him?” Swatosh asked. 

“No. He never threatened our life. The whole situation was just terrifying,” Morris said. 

“Anybody would have been scared,” Swatosh said. “Nothing like that’s ever happened, right? You didn’t know what you’d do.”

“You say you know what you would do,” Morris said. “But then you get in that position and you’re not sure what to do.”

Later Swatosh asked Morris if she was actually telling the truth or if she was deliberately testifying in a way that would benefit Sprague. 

“Are you in a relationship with Mr. Sprage [now]?” Swatosh asked.

Morris smiled, glancing toward Sprague. “Well, you’d have to ask him,” she said. 

“OK. Well unfortunately he’s not testifying today, but my point is, you’re telling the truth today,” Swatosh said. 

“Yes,” she said. 

 

Were items taken from the deceased’s body?

Swatosh asked a series of questions concerning the allegations that Sprague stole a wallet, credit cards, passwords and other items off of Stillwell’s dead body after the shooting. Morris said that she was in the car and just saw Sprague come out of the house with the items. 

Sprague is charged with robbery in connection with those allegations. 

“For all you know, the billfold could have just fallen out and was laying on the floor?” Swatosh asked. 

“Could be,” Morris answered.  

 

Was Sprague living at the Morris home?

After Swatosh finished his questioning, Garrabrant again questioned Morris to clarify a few things. One line of questioning asked whether or not Sprague was in fact living at the home, a key component of the Castle Doctrine defense, which only applies to actions taken in one’s own home. 

“You said that you and the defendant had been seeing each other for about 30 days prior to Kameron Stillwell’s murder,” Garrabrant said. “Did you spend most of that time at your house or his mother’s house?”

It was kind of fifty-fifty,” she said. 

“Was the defendant receiving mail at your house?” Garrabrant asked.

“No. He has his own mailbox,” she said. 

“OK. So he had his own home?” she asked. 

“Well, no, he was moving in… or we were moving to his house,” she replied. 

“Yes or no?” Garrabrant asked. 

“No. He was living there,” she said. 

“He was living there, but you were spending 50 percent of the time between his house and your house, correct?” he asked.

“Yeah, I mean it’s not a…,” Morris said. 

“He wasn’t receiving mail at your house, correct?” Garrabrant asked.

“No,” she answered. 

“He was out on bond at that time, correct?” he asked.

“Yes,” Morris said. 

“He hadn’t changed his address with his bond supervisor had he?” Garrabrant asked. 

“I don’t know…,” Morris said.

 

‘We had an incident’

Garrabrant also asked Morris about her relationship with Sprague. 

“You also had a volatile relationship with the defendant didn’t you?” Garrabrant asked. 

“We had an incident,” Morris said. 

“You told folks he busted your head open, correct?” Garrabrant asked. 

“I busted his eye open,” she said. 

“And he busted your head open?” he asked. 

“Yes, and I busted his eye,” she said. 

Garrabrant then questioned Morris about the transfer of Stillwell’s gun after the shooting. Morris said she didn’t see Sprague give the gun to Hudson, but she had known it happened. She said after the shooting that Sprague returned to the car with gloves on his hands, and she remembered that Isaac came back with shell casings, but she wasn’t sure if Sprague had told her get them.  

 

***

 

To be continued next week when the Times will detail Isaac’s testimony, the state and defense’s closing arguments and the judge’s discussion and ruling. 

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