Edwards Man Charged in Death and Assault of Family Members 

Camdenton, MO, 02-21-23 - Late Sunday night, at approximately 11:00pm, Camden County Communications received a call about a disturbance.  The caller on the 911 call can be heard telling someone to "put the gun down... Alex, put the gun down".  There were sounds of fighting and then the call disconnected.  Communications Officers were able to track the location of the phone call and dispatched deputies and medical personnel to the area of State Road FF and Pine Cove Road in Edwards.

Upon arrival in the area deputies and medical personnel located the residence the call came from.  There they observed a male subject, later identified as 56-year-old Eric L Cantrell, laying on the living room floor of a camper suffering from an obvious gunshot wound.  Despite the efforts of sheriff's deputies and emergency medical personnel Cantrell could not be revived and was pronounced dead.

A second gunshot victim, a female who will not be identified for privacy purposes, was also in the camper and was evacuated to an area hospital via helicopter. 

During their investigation, detectives identified 19-year-old Alexander O Cantrell-King, a family member of both victims, who claimed he heard a gunshot go off inside the camper.  When he went in to investigate, he observed the unidentified female victim holding a 30-30 rifle and observed Eric Cantrell laying on the floor.  He then claimed to have wrestled the rifle away from the unidentified female victim when it accidentally went off shooting the female.

During transport to the hospital the unidentified female victim identified Cantrell-King as the shooter.  Evidence on scene supported her claim and disproved Cantrell-King's version of events.  Cantrell-King was arrested and transported to the Camden County Adult Detention Facility. 

Alexander O Cantrell-King is charged with one count of the Class A Felony of Murder in the 1st Degree, one count of the Class A Felony of Domestic Assault in the 1st Degree, and two counts of the unclassified Felony Armed Criminal Action.  He is being held without bond and will appear before the Camden County Associate Court in late March.

A reminder that these charges are merely allegations of wrongdoing. All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.