UPDATE: Camdenton, MO - 10-09-24 - Late Monday night, 10-07-24, detectives traveled to Springfield and took 23-year-old Austin S Rippe into custody in connection with last week's burglary and shooting investigation from the North Highway 7 area of Camdenton.

 

Coordinating with several area law enforcement agencies, detectives spent many hours running down leads, collecting evidence, and interviewing family members of the deceased. During the investigation detectives determined probable cause that Rippe was present at the time of the burglary. During the commission of that felony Derek A Wayman died, making Rippe chargeable under the felony murder clause of the state statute defining 2nd Degree Murder.

 

Austin S Rippe, of Lake Ozark, was booked into the Camden County Adult Detention Facility and is charged with the Class A Felony of 2nd Degree Murder, and the Class D Felony of 2nd Degree Burglary. He is being held on a $250,000 bond and will appear before the Camden County Associate Court in November.

 

We would like to thank the Greene County Sheriff's Office, the Springfield Police Department, and the Camden County Prosecuting Attorney's Office for their assistance in investigating this case.

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

 

UPDATE: Camdenton, MO - 10-07-24 - Detectives attended an autopsy today of 44-year-old Derek A Wayman, the deceased burglar shot last week in Camden County. Wayman was known to frequent the Sparta and Springfield areas of Missouri.

 

Detectives are following up leads with several other area law enforcement agencies to identify Wayman's accomplice from the morning of the burglary but have not yet positively identified the subject. We will release more information when appropriate.

 

Original: Camdenton, MO - 10-02-24 - At approximately 3:00 a.m. Wednesday morning Camden County Communications took a 911 call from a resident on North Highway 7 of a burglary in progress. The caller told communications officers they shot one of the burglars and another drove off Northbound in an unknown make or model dark colored vehicle.

 

Deputies responded to the residence where medical personnel from Lake West Ambulance and the Northwest Fire Protection District provided emergency medical care to the suspect. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.

 

Deputies and detectives are actively working the crime scene. It is important to note we do not believe there is a current active threat to the public. We will release more information when appropriate.