John Middleton - Triple Killer

John Middleton is exactly where he should be - on Missouri's Death Row.  He killed three people, with help from his girlfriend, because he believed they had turned informant on his methamphetamine operation, after a series of raids by Police.  His first targets were Randy Hamilton and his girlfriend Stacey Hodge.  He shot Hamilton with a rifle, then turned to Hodge and shot her three times in the back.  His girlfriend Maggie Hodges then shot the stricken woman in the head.  Middleton then walked up to Hamilton and shot him in the face with the rifle he had.  It was June 11th 1995.  He was on his way to carrying out his threats to kill all the alleged "snitches" that had turned on him and his drug operation in Northern Missouri.

    Priscilla Hobbs had left her boyfriend Alfred Pinegar at their home in Davis City in Iowa, to run some errands, and on her return journey, she spotted a pickup truck being driven by Middleton, with Hodges, actually sat in the middle.  It turned out Pinegar had ducked out of sight.  Upon her return home, she found that Pinegar had suddenly left, and after some days, filed a missing persons report.  A farmer came across a body and immediately called Police.  They soon identified him as Alfred Pinegar, which led them to Priscilla Hobbs, who told them that he had gone, taking his shotgun with him.  Spent shotgun shells and other evidence was found at the crime scene, and enquiries about ammunition brought the attention to three people who walked into a store to purchase ammunition.  Sales receipts and the memory of the store person, identified John Middleton and Maggie Hodges, as they later returned to the store to return ammunition that had not been used.  The third man was not with them.  Middleton`s truck was forensically linked to the evidence at the crime scene and he was charged with the murder of Pinegar, along with Maggie Hodges.  They were later charged with the murders of Hamilton and Hodge. Middleton refused to crack but Hodge struck a deal and was charged with three counts of 2nd degree murder and three counts of armed criminal action.  She was jailed for life in 1998.

    Middleton was sentenced to death, and has had a couple of stays of execution as he lodges appeal after appeal on various points.  He had no hesitation in killing three people but god forbid he has to lie on a gurney....  Update.  Middleton was executed on July 16th 2014.