Brixey man’s brother also pleads guilty alongside him in 1989 cold case killing

Almost 36 years after 24-year-old Kelle Ann Workman went missing near Seymour, Brixey resident Leonard “Dwight” Banks accepted a plea agreement and entered an Alford plea to an amended charge of voluntary manslaughter in her death. 

That plea was entered in June of this year, and he is now serving a 15-year sentence in the Missouri Department of Corrections. 

Now, his brother, Bobby Banks, has followed suit, becoming the second defendant convicted in connection with the young woman’s killing.

Abducted while mowing

Workman was abducted on June 30, 1989, while mowing the Dogwood Cemetery, located about nine miles southeast of Seymour near the intersection of Highways 14 and Z. 

Officers said that although Workman could not be found, the riding lawn mower she was using was still running, and the keys were still in the ignition of her car. 

Eight days after her disappearance, authorities found her decomposed body partially submerged in a creek in the Mark Twain National Forest in Christian County. 

The original grand jury indictments alleged that the two Banks brothers and Belt “knowingly caused the death... by striking her with a blunt object,” and it was done “after deliberation.” The indictment also alleged that Workman was forcibly raped and that all three men were involved in that action.

Another Alford plea

On Dec. 4, Bobby pleaded guilty by Alford plea to second-degree murder as part of the plea agreement with Douglas County Prosecutor Matt Weatherman in Wright County Court. 

In exchange for pleading guilty, the prosecutor agreed to drop the additional charges of forcible rape and kidnapping that were filed against him. He will be sentenced on Feb. 24, 2026. 

An Alford plea means that the Banks brothers do not necessarily admit they killed Workman. Instead, the plea means that they believe the evidence the state has collected would convince a jury of their peers to find them guilty of the charge, which could lead to a stiffer penalty than the charge and sentencing offered in the plea agreement.

The Webster County Citizen reported in 2024, that the prosecutor extended the plea agreement to Dwight with the condition that he turn state’s evidence and testify against Bobby. 

Dwight was originally charged with first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree rape. 

Belt’s charges dismissed

A third man, Wiley Belt, was also originally charged in the case, but the charges were dismissed late last month. 

According to the Springfield News-Leader, the prosecutor said the witnesses who would have implicated Belt in the case died from old age throughout the years. 

Weatherman reportedly said that, although a grand jury believed there was sufficient probable cause to pursue charges against Belt, he did not feel as if the evidence available at trial was sufficient enough to show beyond a reasonable doubt that Belt was guilty. 

Belt’s attorney, Joseph S. Passanise of Springfield, said Belt continues to assert his innocence.

“My story has never changed. I am completely innocent and had no part in Kelle’s tragic abduction and murder,” Belt said in a statement through the attorney. “My family prays that the conviction... gives Kelle’s family some closure at long last. I am grateful and relieved to finally have this heavy shadow from false identification lifted from our lives. We ask for privacy and peace.” 

Bobby Banks’ son was key witness in cases

The case had been investigated by numerous agencies over the years, and the two Banks brothers were prime suspects all along. But, prosecutors say there was never enough evidence to charge them. That was until a witness provided key evidence in 2024 that allowed officers to make arrests in the case. 

While the cases were pending, it wasn’t disclosed who the new witness was. 

But, on Dec. 4, Weatherman reportedly told the News-Leader that the key witness who came forward was Bobby’s son, Bobby Banks Jr., who was a child at the time Workman was killed. 

The revelation came about two years into the efforts of investigators Leslie Albrecht and Christopher Holland looking into the case. After picking the cold case up around 2022 and beginning to investigate it again, they approached Bobby Banks Jr. and asked about the time when Workman was killed. 

Banks Jr. reportedly told the investigators that he was a 10-year-old boy at that time in 1989 and was left in Bobby’s vehicle while his father and Dwight killed Workman in a field in rural Douglas County. 

Weatherman said Banks Jr. had stayed quiet all these years due to a deep fear of his father, who he said had threatened his son and wife’s lives and previously been abusive. 

As a result of that key piece of evidence and other pieces that had been gathered over the years, Bobby and Dwight Banks were indicted by a Douglas County grand jury on Feb. 20, 2024, and both subjects were arrested the next day. 

With Bobby’s conviction now pending sentencing and Dwight already serving time, the decades-old case has finally seen two of its long-time suspects held accountable. 

For the family of Kelle Ann Workman, the recent developments mark a significant step toward long-awaited justice in a case that haunted the Ozarks for more than three decades.