The Howell County Sheriff's Office has confirmed to the Quill that Levi D. Gunter, 42, West Plains, is the deceased man found Jan. 29 on a Howell County property.
An investigation into the death is ongoing, according to the sheriff's department. On Jan. 30, the department posted an update on its Facebook page stating a search was conducted at a Howell County property in connection with a missing person investigation that was initiated on Dec. 20, and during the search, the body of a dead man was located.
At the same time, Gunter was removed from the Missouri State Highway Patrol's missing persons list, but neither agency stated then that Gunter was the deceased person found.
The Quill called an investigator with the sheriff's office Tuesday morning to confirm that Gunter's was indeed the body found, and he affirmed that to be true and said investigation is ongoing.
Gunter, who faced charges of two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action and a count of attempted possession of a controlled substance at the time of his death, was the codefendant in a May 2020 double homicide, and whose jury trial for that case was set to begin July 29.
Court records show the charges were filed by grand jury indictment in Howell County on April 16 and bond was set at half a million dollars, then reduced to $100,000 on Aug. 18, with the condition he have no contact with any witnesses in the murder trial. He posted a corporate surety bond three days later, court records showed.
He was reported missing Dec. 20 but hadn't been seen since Dec. 2, according to the sheriff's office.
After the discovery of Gunter's body, the Howell County Sheriff’s Office thanked the West Plains Police Department, Bakersfield Fire Department, Tecumseh Fire Department, Caulfield Fire Department and Pottersville Fire Department for their assistance in the search.
An obituary for Gunter is expected to be printed in Saturday's edition of the West Plains Gazette.
