Violent week in Dora: One man charged with murder, another charged with beating a woman, teen and hitting a person with his truck


Ozark County Sheriff’s Deputy Cpl. Curtis Dobbs escorts Allen Shafer, 32, into the Ozark County Courthouse Tuesday to be arraigned on charges of first-degree murder, armed criminal action and tampering with a motor vehicle in connection with the Saturday night shooting death of 22-year-old Devon “Porkey” Massey of Dora. Times photo/Jessi Dreckman

Allen Shafer, 32. Ozark County Jail mug shot.

Ozark County Sheriff’s Department jailer Pablo Sanchez escorts Matthew Collins into the Ozark County Courthouse Tuesday to be arraigned on charges of domestic assault and abusing a child in connection with an alleged incident last Thursday in Dora in which Collins reportedly beat two women and a 15-year-old boy.

Matthew Collins, 39. Ozark County Jail mug shot.

Editor's note: This online article has been edited to clarify and correct the original story.

 

Two men are currently being held in the Ozark County Jail without bond after two separate violent incidents in the Dora area left one man dead and three others injured.

An altercation leads to murder

A Saturday night altercation broke out in Dora that ended in the arrest of 32-year-old Allen R. Shafer and the shooting death of 22-year-old Dora resident Devon “Porkey” Massey. Shafer’s address is listed as Chipley, Florida, on court documents in this case, but according to the West Plains Daily Quill, Shafer’s address has previously been listed as West Plains in prior cases.

Tuesday morning, Shafer was arraigned before Associate Judge Raymond Gross on charges of first-degree murder, armed criminal action and tampering with a motor vehicle in connection with the Saturday incident. A bond reduction hearing is set for 9 a.m. Monday, May 18. He is currently being held without bond in the Ozark County Jail. 

According to the probable cause statement prepared by Ozark County Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Winston Collins, the sheriff’s department received a call at 9:12 p.m. Saturday, May 9, reporting that a person had been shot near County Roads 192 and 195 in Dora. 

Deputies and medical personnel were dispatched to the area, but neither the gunshot victim or the shooter could be found. 

While officers were searching the area for a victim and shooter, Shafer called the sheriff’s department and told the dispatcher he had been involved in an altercation and had shot a man. Shafer reportedly said he’d left the scene in a vehicle, abandoned it and was now walking on county roads and was lost. He told the dispatcher he was unfamiliar with the area and wasn’t sure where he was. 

At 10:59 p.m., a sheriff’s department dispatcher conducted an emergency cell phone ping on Shafer’s phone. The ping returned coordinates in West Plains. 

According to statements from Shafer and a witness of the shooting, the incident occurred while Shafer, Massey and the witness were traveling in the area of County Road 195 in Dora in a 1995 gold Ford Explorer. The vehicle, which is registered to a member of Massey’s family, was entered into the Missouri crime database as a stolen vehicle. 

Around 3 a.m., Massey’s body was found just off the roadway on County 195 near Dora. The report says Massey had one gunshot wound to the chest. 

Officers continued to try and locate Shafer off cell phone pings, which suggested the cell phone was near Mammoth Springs, Arkansas, and later that it was on Highway 63 in Cabool. 

At 6:25 a.m. the West Plains Police Department located and arrested Shafer in West Plains. He was inside the stolen Explorer. A .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol was found in “plain view” of officers inside the Explorer, the report says. The Explorer was towed to an impound lot, and the firearm was seized and secured. 

In a Sunday morning Facebook post, Ozark County Sheriff Darrin Reed said that an autopsy would be performed on Massey. 

 

Assaulting two women and a teen

Matthew N. Collins, 39, of Dora, was also arraigned Tuesday morning before Gross on two class D felonies of second degree domestic assault and abuse of a child. He is scheduled to appear for a bond reduction hearing at 9 a.m. May 18. He is currently being held in the Ozark County Jail without bond. 

According to the probable cause statement prepared by Ozark County Sheriff’s Deputy Cpl. Curtis Dobbs, a woman, who is unnamed in the statement, called the Ozark County Sheriff’s Department at 3:41 p.m. Thursday, May 7, to report that Collins had assaulted her along with Collins’ girlfriend and the girlfriend’s 15-year-old son. 

When Dobbs responded to the woman’s location, the report says she told him she had received a call earlier that day from someone who said Collins was assaulting his girlfriend. She said she could hear noises in the background of the call that sounded as if the girlfriend was being stuck during the phone conversation. 

The woman drove to where Collins and his girlfriend were at, and a fight broke out. During the altercation, the 15-year-old son of Collins’ girlfriend was also assaulted. The entry in this week’s sheriff’s report indicates that the woman told a dispatcher that Collins kicked the teen in the head and then Collins “kidnapped” the boy, but the probable cause statement says the boy got into the back of Collins' truck. The probable cause statement says Collins took off with the boy in the back of his truck and began driving erratically. 

The woman said while Collins was driving erratically with the teen in the truck, he ended up hitting her with his vehicle. 

The woman and teen were transported by ambulance to Ozarks Medical Center in West Plains, where the woman was treated for injuries sustained by begin struck by the vehicle and the teen was treated for abrasions on his arms, stomach and back. 

Dobbs, Ozark County Chief Deputy Winston Collins and officers with the Missouri State Highway Patrol responded to Collins’ residence at 123 Spruce Cove in Dora to try to contact the suspect. When Collins did not answer the door, the officers called Collins on his cell phone. The suspect answered and said he was at Twin Bridges. However, Collins’ vehicle was in the home’s garage at the time. 

The sheriff’s report says Collins barricaded himself inside the residence while, outside, officers waited for a warrant. 

He was arrested at the home at 7:16 p.m., the report says.

Ozark County Times

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