Updated 12/5/2018

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office this week arrested Warrenton resident Joseph Harrell and one other suspect accused in the 2004 murder of Byron Owens of Truxton.

“On March 11, 2004, Byron Owens went out with some friends to celebrate his birthday, not knowing it would be the last time anyone would see him alive,” said Lincoln County Sheriff John Cottle.

Owens’ body was found outside Truxton the next morning, shot five times. The sheriff said suspects Harrell, 36, and Daniel Russell, 57, were known associates of Owens, but that the sheriff’s office at the time could not make an arrest.

Cottle said he brought in a cold case investigator 18 months ago to finally close the case. Warrants for Harrell and Russell were secured late Monday night, Dec. 3.

“I regret (Owens’) mother was unable to have closure prior to her death almost three years ago,” Cottle added.

The sheriff’s office said Harrell was taken into custody early Tuesday morning at his home in Warrenton with the help of the U.S. Marshals Service. Russell was taken into custody by Lincoln County deputies the same morning, just prior to his release from a Department of Corrections facility in Tipton. He was incarcerated there for an unrelated offense, authorities said.

In charging documents, authorities allege that Russell and Harrell murdered Owens because Russell believed Owens had “snitched” to law enforcement about a theft they were involved in together.

Based on witness accounts, investigators say Russell, who lived in Lincoln County at the time, stated he was going to kill Owens after law enforcement located stolen property at Russell’s residence.

On the night of Owens’ murder, investigators said Harrell picked up Russell in a vehicle Harrell had recently purchased. As they were leaving, Russell allegedly repeated his intention to find and kill Owens.

When Russell returned home later that night, he reportedly burned his clothes and took a bath. A witness claimed to have seen possible blood spatter on Russell’s face.

Authorities said the vehicle Harrell and Russell traveled in was left in the possession of two unidentified men and has never been found.

After Owens’ body was discovered, a gun identified as the murder weapon was recovered from a creek at the crime scene, charging documents state. A St. Louis County crime lab confirmed the firearm matched five spent ammo cartridges found next to Owens’ body.

The investigation concluded that Harrell was the last person known to be in possession of the firearm. A search of Harrell’s residence uncovered a spent ammo cartridge confirmed to have come from the same weapon, documents state.

Further information about the prosecution against Harrell and Russell had not yet become available through online court records as of press time. A Lincoln County sheriff’s representative said both men are being held in Lincoln County.

Joseph Harrell

Daniel Russell