Published on Jan. 2, 2019	In the Columbia Missourian
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The Friday murders of 51-year-old Darren Stacey Tharp of Columbia and 24-year-old Shane Austin Hare of Jacksonville, Florida, occurred while two men were robbing the victims of methamphetamine, according to probable cause statements Moberly police wrote for the Randolph County prosecutor.

Four suspects have been arrested.

Christopher Allen Esry, 20, faces two counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree robbery. Aaron Douglas Bloss, 40, and Travis Allan Koenig, 29, face two each of felony murder in the second degree. Steven Dale Bell faces a felony count of tampering with physical evidence.

The bodies of Tharp and Hare were discovered around 11 a.m. by the staff of Bud’s Place, a Moberly bar. Tharp’s car was parked in a lot between Bud’s Place and Westside Inn, a bar next door.

An autopsy by the Randolph County coroner found that each had died of single gunshot wounds. Tharp, the driver, was shot in the back of the head and Hare was shot in the left eye, according to the statements.

The probable cause statements describe this series of events and evidence collected.

Aaron Bloss’ estranged wife, identified only as “L,” told police Sunday that her husband and Esry were loading handguns Thursday in her house and that they were going to commit a burglary in Columbia. They left in a truck, she said.

Video surveillance footage from local businesses indicated Tharp’s car first appeared in the parking lot at 4:29 a.m. Friday. Eleven minutes later, two men approached the car from behind Westside Inn, standing on either side of the car. Another two minutes later, those same men fled back behind Westside Inn.

Bloss told police Monday that Esry had asked him for a ride at 3:30 a.m. Friday. Bloss and Koenig picked up Esry on Concannon Street.

Esry told Bloss he was planning to steal drugs from people at Bud’s Place and that Bloss was going to help, Bloss told police in an interview Tuesday. When Bloss refused, Esry pointed a gun at him, telling him he would kill Bloss’ whole family if he messed up the robbery.

Bloss parked a block away from Bud’s Place at Franklin and Hagood streets, and Esry had him join the robbery. Koenig stayed in the truck while the two walked to Tharp’s car and got in. Bloss told police that he knew neither occupant but that Esry had said they would be good “picks” because they were “lame.”

Esry got in the back seat behind Tharp, brandished a gun and demanded “the dope.” Hare, in the passenger seat, complied and handed Bloss a bag of methamphetamine. Bloss heard a gunshot as he exited the car. He began to run and heard another.

Once the two men returned to the truck, Koenig — who had agreed to act as the getaway driver for the robbery — drove away.

Later that day, a Randolph County Sheriff’s Department officer contacted Moberly police to tell them a vehicle fire had been reported Friday morning in rural Randolph county. The officer found a red Ford F-150 on fire. Bloss, the owner’s stepson, was known to drive the truck.

Bloss’ wife told police she received a message Friday from her husband saying “he was going to prison for something he didn’t do.”

Bloss on Tuesday told police that he had intended to dispose of the clothes he wore during the robbery but that Steven Bell encouraged him to burn the clothes. They did that in a burn barrel on Quinn Street. Then they decided to deal with Tharp’s car and the victims’ bodies.

Bloss thought he had left his cellphone in the car, so Bell and Bloss drove back to Bud’s Place on Friday to recover it. They didn’t find it.

Afterward, Bloss told Bell to either burn or blow up Tharp’s car, so they drove around the area looking for propane tanks. The next day, Bloss got a phone call from Esry and Koenig instructing him to dispose of the car and the bodies, Bloss told police. Bell told Bloss he would burn them and went looking for a trailer to move the car. Police, however, discovered the bodies first.

Aaron Bloss and Bell were booked into the Randolph County Jail on Tuesday morning and Koenig that evening. Randolph County Prosecuting Attorney Stephanie Luntsford requested an arrest warrant for Esry on Tuesday. He was arrested without incident at around 7 p.m. the same day in Madison, according to a Moberly police news release.

All were being held in lieu of $1 million cash-only bonds.

Moberly Chief of Police Troy Link said in a Wednesday news release that police collaborated with the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Randolph and Monroe county sheriff’s departments and the Randolph County coroner in their investigation. He thanked the department’s officers, writing that they had “worked extremely long hours and often short on sleep to work this investigation and take all four suspects into custody.”

Hare’s sister, Sara Hare, told the Missourian on Tuesday that her brother was in Missouri visiting friends. Hare also was facing a charge of drug possession in Randolph County, and a disposition hearing had been scheduled for next Wednesday.

Randolph County Prosecuting Attorney Stephanie Luntsford said the defendants’ arraignments are likely to occur Monday.