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Joseph Jesse Aldridge(Photo: Missouri State Highway Patrol)
TYRONE, Mo. — Land, grief, drugs, greed, employment, mental illness.
Speculation was blowing around Tyrone on Saturday like fresh snow whipping back and forth across Highway H.
But what exactly set off 36-year-old Joseph Jesse Aldridge remains unknown.
Authorities believe Aldridge killed seven people in the small Texas County, Mo., town of Tyrone overnight on Thursday before turning the gun on himself. But while law enforcement has released several details regarding the shootings, one thing they haven't answered is, why?
"No one knows except the ones that are gone now," said Shoanna Neal, Aldridge's cousin. "So we'll probably never know."
On Saturday, authorities released the names of the three remaining victims: Darrell Dean Shriver, 68, his son Carey Dean Shriver, 46, and Carey's wife, Valirea Love Shriver, 44.
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Authorities say the other victims are four of Aldridge's cousins: Garold Dee Aldridge, 52, and his wife Julie Ann Aldridge, 47; Harold Wayne Aldridge, 50, and his wife Janell Arlisa Aldridge, 48.
Another woman was also shot but is recovering at a local hospital, authorities say.
Neal, who lives in Tyrone, said she got a strange feeling of fear while she was lying in bed on Thursday night.
A few minutes later, Neal got a text from her sister saying the Shrivers had been found shot dead. Neal said she jumped out of bed and went to grab her two young girls, but she didn't know what to do.
"Here I am trapped in my own home," Neal said. "Even though there are cops up and down the road, you don't know if the killer is in your backyard."
She said she stayed in her home and prayed for the gunman to be stopped.
Aldridge was found dead in a still-running truck in the middle of the highway at around 5:30 a.m. on Friday in Shannon County, according to authorities. His mother, Alice Aldridge, had died of natural causes shortly before the rampage, leading some in Tyrone to speculate if grief may have set Aldridge on his violent path.
Shoanna Neal and her father, Doyle Lay, are related to Joseph Jesse Aldridge, the man accused of killing seven people in Tyrone.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Harrison Keegan/News-Leader)
Aldridge's uncle, Doyle Lay, has lived in Tyrone for all of his 70 years. Lay said he was not close with Aldridge, but news of the shootings was hard to take.
"It's a dirty shame what he did," Lay said. "A lot of people are upset about it and hurt."
Lay said Aldridge had made threats in the past that he would kill someone and he knew Aldridge had been involved in drug use, but Thursday night's mass shooting still came as a surprise.
"This has been brewing," Lay said. "But it puts a shock in you when it comes all at once."
Lay and Neal said the Shrivers own a cabinet store in Tyrone where Aldridge had possibly worked or attempted to get a job, but they didn't know if that had created a rift.
Authorities said none of the homes where the shootings occurred showed signs of forced entry.
Aldridge was sentenced to 21 months in prison in 2008 for a gun charge, and a law expert said Aldridge was likely prohibited from purchasing or possessing a firearm due to past drug use.
Cody Ice has been delivering the mail in Tyrone for 20 years. He said he knew everyone involved in Thursday's shooting, but he wasn't aware of any violence that would trigger something like that rampage.
Ice still put mail in the victims' mailboxes on Saturday morning, as is the policy, but it left him with a strange feeling.
"In my time out here, there are always events where people pass away and you still go through that same thing, so I am kind of used to that a little bit," Ice said. "But it makes you think as you go by."
A gruesome discovery
John Shriver got a call from his cousin Martha Shriver on Thursday night asking for help.
Martha said there was trouble and asked John to go get her son Carey Shriver and bring him to her house.
So, John Shriver got out of bed, hopped in his truck and made his way down to Carey's house.
He honked the horn. No answer.
John Shriver, 72, found two of his cousins dead in their home on Thursday night.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Harrison Keegan/News-Leader)
He pounded on the back door. No answer.
Finally, he stepped inside and saw something he will likely never forget. Carey Shriver and his wife Valirea dead in their bedroom.
"I didn't know what to do," John said. "There weren't any police there."
John said he stepped outside as officers were driving down the road, and he flagged them down.
Authorities discovered the two bodies, along with the couple's juvenile son who was asleep in his bed. John said that boy is now with his sister, who is a college student in Springfield.
John, 72, said his cousins were kind, hard-working people and he couldn't make sense of their killings. He said he knew Aldridge, but not well.
"I'd met him from time to time," John said. "But we didn't have much in common."
John said he hasn't slept much since Thursday night, and he is a long way from wrapping his head around the events of the last few days.
"It is still pretty much a blur," John said. "I don't even know any way to start to make sense of it."
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