I will be interested to see if Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker brings charges against the man to whom David Jungerman confided in November that he had killed Kansas City lawyer Thomas Pickert.
The probable cause statement that supports the first-degree murder charge filed this week against Jungerman shows clearly that the man — whom I think I know — was aware of Jungerman’s heinous act less than a month after Jungerman allegedly gunned Pickert down in his front yard.
A recording that police obtained of a conversation between Jungerman and the man includes these exchanges:
Jungerman: Hey, you know, uh, people…people uh know that I murdered that son of a bitch.
Man: Why are you saying it like that?
Jungerman: Because that’s what…because of what the media done, see. And but they…they…they just nobody can figure out what’s going on, you know?
Man: (Laughing) Ehhhhh-huh-huh, I hope they don’t never figure it out.”
I suspect that the same man also may have corroborated Jungerman’s statement to police that the white van he allegedly drove to Pickert’s house was parked next to a lake in Raytown at the time of the crime.
…I believe the man to be Leo Wynne Jr., who is about 60 years old and has worked for Jungerman’s baby high-chair manufacturing business more than 30 years.
Wynne accompanied Jungerman to a court hearing I attended in Nevada, MO, in Vernon County, on Jan. 9. At that time, I met and spoke with both men at length before and after the court hearing.
Wynne is such a trusted employee and associate that several years ago Jungerman gave him 400 acres of farmland. Jungerman, a multi-millionaire farmer and baby-high-chair manufacturer, owns several thousand acres of farm land, much of it in southwest Missouri.
The probable cause statement doesn’t identify the individual Jungerman was talking to when he admitted killing Pickert, but it says the recording was made after a Nov. 16 court hearing in Vernon County.
Wynne and Jungerman live in close proximity in Raytown. Jungerman lives in a ranch house on one side of a small lake near 60th and Elm streets, and Wynne lives in a house across the lake.
When he was interviewed by police the day of Pickert’s murder — Oct. 25 — Jungerman said the white van had been parked outside Wynne’s house all day long. That night, police obtained a search warrant for the van and recovered it at Wynne’s home.
I do not know if police interviewed Wynne, but surely they did. Taking it a step further, my guess is that Wynne vouched for Jungerman’s story that the van was parked outside his house at the time Pickert was killed.
Two witnesses described seeing a white van, similar to Jungerman’s, near the scene of the killing. In addition, in the course of their six-month investigation, detectives obtained video from “traffic cameras, businesses, residences and two ATA buses” indicating Jungerman’s van was driven from Raytown to the Brookside area an hour before the shooting and driven back to Raytown after the shooting.
(That is sensational detective work, by the way, and shows again how the proliferation of video cameras has made getting away with a crime a lot harder these days.)
**
So, what could Wynne be charged with, if, indeed, I’m correct on my supposition it was he to whom Jungerman admitted the crime?
From what we know and from my reading of Missouri statutes, he conceivably could be charged with a Class E felony of concealing an offense.
The pertinent statute says a person commits the offense of concealing an offense if he or she “accepts or agrees to accept any pecuniary benefit or other consideration in consideration of his or her concealing any offense, refraining from initiating or aiding in the prosecution of an offense, or withholding any evidence thereof.”
It might be difficult for police to establish that Wynne accepted any monetary benefit “or other consideration” for keeping his mouth shut, but if I were Leo Wynne Jr., I’d be worried.
Conviction of a Class E felony is punishable, upon conviction, by up to four years in prison.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
I think a bigger problem than not telling police about Jungerman’s statement would be lying to the police. I don’t know if that’s a separate charge, or falls under obstructing or aiding and abetting, but I guarantee you if they have proof that Jungerman’s van was not where he said it was in a case involving a murder, there is a good likelihood he is in serious trouble.
He can always claim that he thought Jungerman was kidding about the murder, but a van being someplace where he said it wasn’t is a factual issue easily proven with video evidence.
575.030 Might fit given lying to police. Same chapter as the one you cited, but no indication of reward.
(4) Prevents or obstructs, by means of force, deception or intimidation, anyone from performing an act that might aid in the discovery or apprehension of such person.
2. Hindering prosecution is a class D felony if the conduct of the other person constitutes a felony; otherwise hindering prosecution is a class A misdemeanor.
I don’t think lying to police is a crime, John, although lying to federal authorities is. It’s different with state and federal.
That’s an interesting statute you tracked down…But, like the one I cited, it’s a big ambiguous, especially the business about preventing someone “from performing an act that might aid in the discovery or apprehension of such a person.”
The associate would be guilty, as far as I can tell, of keeping quiet, perhaps not actively doing something to prevent discovery.
Nevertheless, I’ve got to think the prosecutor’s office is looking at this very closely. As frustrating as this case has been — and considering the toll it has taken on Pickert’s wife and children — I would think Peters Baker would want to hold everyone to account.
Obstructs by means of deception. He was Jungerman’s alibi. He lied when he told police the van was at his house when, in fact, Jungerman was shooting the lawyer with it. They have video evidence that it wasn’t. The commentary was clear that it was similar to the Kansas statute that explicitly refers to lying to police.
Loyalty to your employer has limits. Apparently this man has no ethical limits, OR he is the guy who led the police to the audio. If he is the first case, he should be prosecuted and get 25 years.
I guess we gotta wait and see.
Wynne didn’t lead detectives to the recorder, Chuck…Detectives found that at Jungerman’s home, in the master bedroom, after they got a search warrant — which came shortly after Jungerman was arrested on the first felony charge in Jackson County. Detectives were so careful they got a second warrant allowing them to listen to the audio.
KCPD did a masterful job of developing the case slowly and methodically and, at the same time, giving Jungerman plenty of rope with which to hang himself. I’ve concluded they put out the “not a suspect” line, not because they were worried about a libel suit but to put him at ease and make him think he had gotten away with murder. Beautiful strategy.
Tony Botello is reporting that Jungerman’s health is failing rapidly in the Jackson County jail both mentally and physically.
I read the Star account in today’s edition. It added a couple of things I didn’t know relating to his failed marriages and the apparent failure of his cash cow manufacturing operation. And then there’s the business about his son not speaking to him in recent years. Added to the altercations and shootings you reported, we have a picture of a man coming completely unglued. I wonder if there will ever be a trial. I hope there is, but knowing the glacial pace of such proceedings…and he’s 80.
You hit the nail on the head, Jim, in your analysis of the police work. They did get it right.
Minor, but a little fact checking would have been in order. Blackburn is “outside St. Louis” by nearly 200 miles. I hope they got the other details correctly.
Eric Adler, the main writer on that story, did an excellent job, Bob. He pulled a lot of information together, with the help of three other very able reporters — Ian Cummings, Glenn Rice and Judy Thomas. I thought it was significant that father and son are estranged. You know something is way off kilter when a parent and child have stopped communicating.
In addition, the comment from Jungerman’s 82-year old brother — “I’m thinking someone planted evidence” — is laughable. When the jury hears that recording, it’s going to be curtains for Mr. David Jungerman — if he’s still alive then.
He’s been able-bodied enough to shoot people so I have a hard time thinking that he’s in declining physical health.
Tony likes to tout that he has “kick-ass sources” everywhere — I guess including in the cells of the Jackson County Detention Center.
He’s undoubtedly just speculating, probably based on what Jungerman’s lawyer told The Star last week — that jail had been difficult for his client.
On the other hand, as I’ve said all along, I don’t expect him to survive long being incarcerated. Jail and prison are not for the elderly; it helps to be young and an asshole.