Second witness gives testimony in hearing about shooting death of Kameron Stillwell

Editor’s note: This is the second part of a two-part story detailing the April 14 preliminary hearing of Timothy Kyle Sprague, charged in connection with the July 15, 2020, shooting death of Kameron Stillwell. See last week’s Times for the first part of the story, which outlined Kimberly Morris’ testimony. 

 

A preliminary hearing for Timothy Kyle Sprague was held April 14 in Ozark County Associate Court before Associate Judge Raymond Gross. 

Sprague is charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in connection with the shooting death of Ozark County resident Kameron Stillwell on July 15, 2020, at Kimberly Morris’ Thornfield home. Morris was reportedly dating Sprague at the time and had broken up with Stillwell about a month earlier, following a nine-year relationship. 

Morris’ friend Kaylee Isaac was staying with Morris and Sprague at the time and was reportedly at the home when the shooting occurred.

Sprague is also charged with robbery for allegedly stealing items off Stillwell’s body, and with kidnapping and armed criminal action for allegedly forcing Isaac to come with him and Morris after the shooting. The trio were arrested at a hotel in Siloam Springs, Oklahoma, the day after the incident.

A felony count of unlawful possession of a firearm and abandonment of a corpse were also filed against Sprague. 

 

A second witness testifies

Isaac took the stand and was questioned under oath by Prosecuting Attorney John Garrabrant after Morris, the first witness, was excused from the courtroom. 

When Garrabrant asked Isaac how she knew Morris, she told him she’d met her through her father and his girlfriend. 

Garrabrant asked her to think back to July 15, 2020, and asked if she was staying at Morris’ home. Isaac said she was staying there, as well as Morris and Sprague. 

 

‘A beating sound on the front door’ 

The prosecutor asked what was the first thing she heard that morning. 

“I remember hearing a beating sound on the front door of Kim’s house,” Issac replied, clarifying that she was in an “upstairs” area of the house that was a few stairs higher than the lower level where Morris and Sprague were at the time. 

“I could hear Kameron shouting at Kim, ‘Just open the f-ing door,’ and he was cussing at her, saying if she didn’t let him in he was going to kick it in and he had a gun,” Isaac said. She testified that she heard Morris shout back to Kameron saying, “No. Go away. I don’t want to talk to you. Just leave.”

During a series of questions, Isaac said she did not know Stillwell but Kim had mentioned that he was her ex-boyfriend sometime before the incident. Garrabrant asked her to continue the story.

“After I heard the banging and shouting and stuff, I walked down the few little stairs and went around the corner, and I seen Kameron at the window, where there was a piece of wood over the window,” she said, adding that the room was used as a bedroom and had extra furniture and dressers with clothing in them. 

Isaac said the window in that room was boarded up and only had about 6 inches of visible window space toward the top, but she said she could partially see Stillwell through that space. 

 

Garrabrant asked Isaac to describe the gun Stillwell was holding.

“It had tape all over the bottom handle part of it, and it looked like one of the guns that you cock the top part,” Isaac said. 

 

Gunshots

“He was coming through the window, so you went back up the steps?” Garrabrant asked. 

“Yeah, because I seen he was pointing the gun toward her,” Isaac answered. 

Garrabrant asked if she knew where Sprague was at the time, and she said he was in the bedroom with Kim. 

Garrabrant asked Isaac to continue describing what happened after she ran upstairs.

“I heard Kim screaming and yelling, and she started crying really loud saying, ‘Please, Kameron, please stop,’” Isaac said. “And I snuck down. Kameron was shouting back and forth to Kim saying he wasn’t [expletive] playing anymore – excuse my language – and he was tired of it and he just wanted to talk to her. He kept saying he was sick and tired of it, and he was just done with it.”

Isaac said she peeked into the room during the heated conversation between Stillwell and Morris. 

“I think it might’ve looked like I’d caught Kameron off track or something cause he looked at me and kind of lowered the gun but pointed [it] back at her saying he was going to shoot her,” Isaac said. 

Isaac said she ran back upstairs, and when she got to the upper level she heard four or five gunshots and went back downstairs to see what had happened.

“I heard Kim screaming and crying. I didn’t know if she’d been shot or what had happened, and then I just saw Kameron laying down,” she said. 

Garrabrant asked who was in the room then, and Isaac said Kim was standing next to Kameron by the window “screaming and crying. Isaac said she entered the room, and Kim ran to her and hugged her, still crying. Isaac said at that time she didn’t see or know where Kyle Sprague was. 

Garrabrant asked where she first saw Sprague.

“In the bedroom hallway…,” she said. “He had a smaller gun on him… I think Kameron’s [gun] was on the floor.”

Isaac said that Sprague had the gun, which she described as having a “spinny thing” referring to the revolver’s cylinder, in his hand at the time. Garrabrant asked if it was a revolver. 

“I think so,” she said, “…but I’m not really familiar with guns.”

 

‘He was gasping for air’

Garrabrant asked what happened next. 

“After she hugged me, she was screaming and crying…. Kameron was on the floor on his side, and he had blood all over the floor behind him,” Isaac said. 

Garrabrant asked if Stillwell was moving or talking after he’d been shot.

“He was gasping for air,” Isaac said.

She said that Kim wanted to go sit by Stillwell, and “she kept shouting about calling 911 or something, but she couldn’t find her phone… and then I was saying maybe someone could give him CPR or put pressure on his wound…. I didn’t know at the time that he’d got shot.”

“Did you attempt to help him?” Garrabrant asked. 

“Me and Kim both were,” she said. 

Garrabrant asked if anyone stopped her. Isaac took a while to answer, glancing at the floor.

“Uh… since he’d been shot, Kyle didn’t want us to,” she finally answered. 

Garrabrant asked what Kyle said to them that made her think that.

“He said [Stillwell] was dangerous and stuff and we just needed to keep our distance from him because the gun was still near his hands and stuff…,” Isaac said. 

Garrabrant asked if Sprague threatened her. 

“Uh… he told me and Kim just not to go near him.”

“Did he say something would happen to you if you did?” Garrabrant asked. 

“Uh… after he was shot, yeah, me and Kim was told not to say nothing at all,” Isaac replied. 

When Garrabrant pressed the issue further with a few more questions, Isaac was slow to answer. 

“Do you remember talking to an officer when you were taken into custody in Oklahoma or Arkansas? Do you remember telling that officer that [Kyle Sprague] told you to stay away from Kameron or he was going to shoot you next?” Garrabrant asked. 

“Yeah. Me and Kim was both told that,” she answered. 

Garrabrant asked Isaac how long Stillwell was making gurgling sounds after he’d been shot. 

“About 10 minutes after I seen him laying on his side,” Isaac said. 

Garrabrant asked if Stillwell was moving or if his hand had moved after the shooting.

“It twitched, yes,” she said. 

 

Retrieving the spent shell casings

Isaac told the court that, at Sprague’s direction, she and Morris left the room to go get the car. She said they got the car and drove it down to the house. 

“We stayed in the car for 15 minutes or so, and then he came out.” Isaac said. “He was gathering up some things from inside the house.”

She told the prosecutor Sprague gathered a bag and some of Stillwell’s items and returned to the car with them. 

“Did he have gloves on at the time?” Garrabrant asked.

“He had on doctor blue gloves, yeah, rubber gloves,” Isaac said.

Garrabrant asked what Sprague said he was doing in the house for the 15 minutes the women were waiting in the car. 

“He said he was moving Kameron where his foot wasn’t in the window, and he was picking up a few things and bullets that were shot,” Isaac answered. 

When Garrabrant asked Isaac if she went back into the house after that, she initially said no. But then Garrabrant reminded her of a previous interview after the incident with former Ozark County Sheriff’s Deputy Cpl. Curtis Dobbs.

“Do you remember telling him that the defendant told you to go back into the house and get the shell casings out of the garbage?” Garrabrant asked. 

“Yeah. I remember that. They were put in a McDonald’s bag,” she said. Garrabrant asked if Sprague told her to go back into the house and retrieve the shell casings from the garbage can.

“Yeah, but they weren’t all in the garbage. They were just laying around on the floor at stuff,” she said, confirming that she had put the casings in a McDonald’s bag and brought it back out to the car.

 Isaac said the bag of casings was thrown away at a convenience store or car wash somewhere along the way to Siloam Springs. 

Garrabrant asked if she knew where the gun Stillwell had been holding was put after he was shot. She said it was put in the car and stashed in the driver’s seat-back pocket and was later given to a friend, Toby Hudson. 

Isaac said Sprague drove the car away from Morris’ house with them as passengers in the backseat. 

 

‘I was just really scared’ 

“Were you told to get in the car?” Garrabrant asked. 

“Me and Kim was told to get in the car. That’s why we did,” she said.

Garrabrant asked if she felt like she had a choice whether or not to get into the car after the shooting.

“Kinda did. I was just really scared at the time,” Isaac said. Garrabrant asked if she was afraid of Sprague. 

She said yes.

“Did he ever point a gun at you?” Garrabrant asked. 

“Once or twice after Kameron was shot,” she said. 

Garrabrant asked what Sprague had said to her after pointing the gun at the women.

“He just told me not to let him find out anything was said about it,” Isaac said. 

Garrabrant asked Isaac if she wanted to be in the car and wanted to go toward Siloam Springs.

“Kinda… just to be with Kim and stuff  

because she kept crying,” Isaac said. She told the court that she and Kim had thought about leaving but decided not to. 

“She was wanting to run. We were at a Walmart store and stuff, but we told each other we’d be too scared to try to do it,” she said. 

Garrabrant asked what she was scared of.

“Scared that maybe we might get shot or something…,” she said. 

 

Defense attorney redirects

After Garrabrant  finished his questioning, defense attorney Christopher Swatosh questioned Isaac. 

“Did you think she [Morris] was going to get shot?” Swatosh asked. “In fact, when you heard the gunshots, you thought Kameron had killed Kim… shot her, right?”

“Yeah. I honestly did,” Isaac responded. 

Swatosh then asked Isaac about being in the car with Morris.  

“You told Mr. Garrabrant that you and Kim were inside the vehicle alone for 15 minutes. If you wanted to get away, you could have left right then. Right?” he asked. 

“Possibly,” she said. 

“What was stopping you?” Swatosh pushed.

“She told me she was too scared, and I told her the same thing,” she said. “We were pretty much scared to death…. She kept crying. She didn’t want to move. She was froze.”

Swatosh asked if Isaac was just scared of the situation they were in and what had happened that day, and Isaac said, “Yeah, pretty much. We didn’t know what was going to happen after.”

Swatosh asked if Sprague held her against her will. 

“When I first came out there, I’d asked him to help me,” Isaac said, explaining that, at the time, she was trying to get away from a boyfriend with whom she was fighting. She had asked Morris and Sprague to come get her and also asked if she could stay at Morris’ house with them. 

“It wasn’t until after Kameron got shot that I was a little afraid to say anything about wanting to leave. It was just kind of spooky... because I’m only 22,” she said.

Swatosh asked if she was with Sprague with her consent after the group had picked up Toby Hudson, a friend who was reportedly walking toward Morris’ house when the trio passed him in the car as they were leaving the scene. Hudson got into the vehicle with them and continued on with them to Siloam Springs, Isaac said. The group stayed in one hotel, and then Sprague, Morris and Isaac relocated to another hotel in that same area, she said. 

“Yeah, I was in the backseat, crying…,” Isaac said. “I was scared, seeing Kameron.”

Swatosh asked if she was at the hotels they’d stayed at in Siloam Springs with her consent. 

Swatosh asked Isaac if she or Morris had a cell phone after they’d left the Morris house, and she told him that she didn’t have a phone but Morris had two phones, a brand-new one and an older one. Swatosh asked if she asked to use the phone while they were on the run.

“A few times I asked her…. when we’d stopped at the gas station. Then I told her not to worry about it. It could wait…. She was scared to give it to me because she didn’t want me to be seen with a phone….”

“Ms. Isaac, I want to ask you a very specific question…,” Swatosh said. “You said my client had a gun, right? And he made statements in reference to not wanting you to talk about the shooting that happened on July 15…. Did he use the gun in connection with the statements about staying with him or not leaving… being by his side?”  

“He just said he didn’t want to find out that we’d mentioned anything about Kameron’s death,” she answered.”

 

‘When you’re asked to do something by a judge, it’s not a suggestion’

Before Isaac was excused from court, the judge addressed her directly.

“You’ve been held under a ‘will of body attachment.’ Do you understand why you were held by the court?” Gross asked. The judge had issued the order, which directs law enforcement officers in the area to arrest and hold a person in jail until the court hearing, based on the fact that he or she did not appear at the first scheduled preliminary hearing that had been set for three weeks earlier. 

“Because I didn’t show up for my last court,” Isaac said. 

Gross asked if she’d posted a cash bond, and she said she hadn’t. 

“OK, ma’am. I’m going to release you from that body attachment. Hopefully you’ll remember in the future that if you’re asked to do something by a judge, it’s not a suggestion. It’s something that you need to do. OK?”

“Sorry, judge” Isaac said. 

“You’re free to go today,” he said. 

“I don’t know if we’ve sent off your ride…,” Gross said, referring to Isaac’s boyfriend, who was reportedly arrested when he attempted to come into the courtroom with what was thought to be methamphetamine in his pocket. 

She said that another family member had arranged to pick her up.

“OK… if you are still around when I leave, let me know, and I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you, Judge,” Isaac said. 

Isaac was dismissed. 

 

Admitted drug use, criminal pasts

The criminal history and reported drug use of the witnesses will likely come into play if the case goes to trial. It was brought up by Swatosh during his portion of questioning during the preliminary hearing. Both the defendant and the victim also have a criminal past. 

The first witness, Morris, who was brought to court in an orange Missouri Department of Corrections jumpsuit, testified under oath that she was using methamphetamine the morning of Stillwell’s death. In addition to the admitted drug use, she has a criminal record that includes Ozark County convictions for assault while on school property and two cases of drug possession. She said she was currently serving a prison sentence for one of the possession cases and had been to prison at least once before. 

The second witness, Isaac, also testified that she was using methamphetamine on the morning Stillwell was killed. During questioning, Swatosh asked if she was a meth addict, and she said,” I used to be. I’ve been clean a month now.”

Stillwell, who was shot and killed, was also reportedly using drugs on the day of his death. According to a medical examiner’s report, Stillwell’s body had the presence of methamphetamine, amphetamine and THC when the autopsy was performed sometime after the shooting. Stillwell’s criminal record included convictions of unlawful use of drug paraphernalia, theft/stealing ($500-$25,000) and multiple domestic assault cases involving Morris.

Sprague, the defendant, was not questioned during the hearing, so no information was given as to whether or not he was also using meth or other drugs on the day of Stillwell’s death. Sprague’s criminal record includes convictions of endangering the welfare of two children. 

In an unrelated case, Sprague is currently charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, delivery of a controlled substance and domestic assault in connection with a Dec. 23, 2019, incident in which he is alleged to have held a woman against her will, threatened her and punched her in the face. 

In that case, officers responded to a residence where Sprague reportedly had a .45-caliber pistol with two magazines, an SKS rifle with an attached magazine and two bags of methamphetamine. The case is still ongoing, and he has not been convicted of those allegations. 

 

The defense’s closing argument

After Isaac had left the courtroom, Gross asked the attorneys if they’d like to give a closing argument before he made a ruling. In response, Garrabrant announced that, in order to circumvent some of the argument, he had chosen to dismiss the kidnapping and armed criminal action charges concerning Morris.

Swatosh gave his argument first.

“Judge, I think it’s pretty clear that the court has the authority to bind the defendant over on… particular felonies where you think there’s been probable cause,” he said, then detailed each count, beginning with the charge of second-degree murder. 

“Here’s the evidence from all the witnesses. Here’s a guy who’s beat up Kim Morris and hospitalized her on two occasions… . [saying] ‘Let me the F in,’... and Kim [saying], ‘No. Go away. Go away,’ in tears…. He kicked in [the plywood on the window] with his boots and busted it and then comes in the window,” Swatosh said. 

“According to the last witness, [Stillwell] tells Kim he’s going to kill her. And, according to the last witness, she thought Kim was going to be dead when she heard the gunshots. If this isn’t a case of the defense of others and the Castle Doctrine, I don’t know what is,” Swatosh said.

“I don’t think there’s been any evidence at all of murder in the second degree. There’s been lots of evidence of threats and... things like that, but not murder in the second degree,” he said.

Swatosh said that if Gross chose not to bind Sprague over on the second-degree murder charge, it would make sense that he wouldn’t bind him over on count two, armed criminal action, involving using a firearm to shoot Stillwell. 

Next Swatosh addressed count three, robbery in the first-degree. 

“The only evidence is that the defendant had some items, I think credit cards, a billfold, some weed and some passwords. Well, Mr. Stillwell lived in that home. According to [Morris], they were on and off for nine years,” he said. “I don’t know what you know, but I don’t know what was in the defendant’s possession…. There certainly isn’t any evidence that he took it off the deceased. And Ms. Morris said, ‘I don’t know if he found that stuff in the house. I don’t know if he took it out of his hand. I don’t know if it fell out….’ There’s been no evidence that he robbed the deceased.”

Swatosh continued on to counts four and five, kidnapping and armed criminal action in connection with making Isaac come with him after the shooting. 

“I think Kaylee’s testimony was pretty clear. He helped her…. I think her testimony was similar to Ms. Morris’ that she was scared. Who wouldn’t be scared? All of us in this room would be scared if someone was killed right in front of us. It would be frightening to anybody with any reasonable sense. So I think what Kaylee was saying was she was scared, just as Ms. Morris said. [Sprague] didn’t ever threaten her with the gun. The only threats he allegedly made, of course, this is coming from a lady who was on meth until a month ago, was not to talk about it. Well… he’s not charged with threatening her for not speaking about it.”

Counts six and seven were the kidnapping and armed criminal action charges involving Morris that were voluntarily dismissed by the prosecutor. 

Swatosh then moved on to the charges of unlawful possession of a firearm, based on Sprague’s status as a convicted felon, which restricts him from possessing guns.

“If you dismiss count one (murder), I’d asked you to dismiss…unlawful possession of a firearm. If the court finds this was self-defense, or defense of others or Castle [Doctrine], he can’t legally be convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm. You have a right to a weapon to protect yourself or protect others,” Swatosh said. 

“And that leaves abandonment of a corpse,” he said. “If the court was going to bind him over on anything, it would be that.”

 

The state’s closing argument

Garrabrant then made his closing statement. 

“I’ll try to be brief, because I know the court’s burden is to find probable cause as to a homicide,” Garrabrant said. “The defense’s mention of the Castle Doctrine… we’re not even sure that the defendant actually lived there. There’s substantial evidence that he did not,” Garrabrant said.

He argued that Swatosh’s mention of self-defense or the defense of others wasn’t relevant at the preliminary hearing stage of the case. 

“Those are criminal defenses, and those come later. That’s not for this court to make a determination. That’s for a jury [or division one judge] to make a determination,” Garrabrant said. “And even at that, we have seen people act in self-defense and defense of others. We know what they do. What they don’t do is, they don’t prevent people from providing aid to the victims. They don’t leave the scene. They don’t try to sabotage the scene. They don’t take items from the victim and then keep them.”

Garrabrant then addressed the robbery charge, saying, “The defendant had the victim’s billfold, his account names and passwords, his credit card and his pistol. There is unequivocal evidence to the fact that the defendant took those items from the victim. The victim surely did not surrender them when he was deceased. They were taken by force, and that meets probable cause for the robbery and the [armed criminal action] counts two and three.”

Garrabrant acknowledged that the charge of kidnapping Isaac was “somewhat problematic” after hearing the testimony, but he said he still stood by the charge. 

“The standard I am reading from is, ‘What is forcible compulsion? Forcible compulsion is a threat, expressed or implied, that places a person in fear of death, serious physical injury or kidnapping,’” Garrabrant said, reading from a paper. “Ms. Isaac testified that she didn’t particularly want to go with the defendant. She was scared of the defendant. 

Garrabrant finished his argument by addressing the charge of unlawful possession of a firearm. 

“There’s no doubt that the defendant had a firearm before, and after, and during the time that he murdered Kameron Stillwell,” he said, adding that he was confident the state had presented evidence that met the “relatively low burden of proof” of probable cause required at a preliminary hearing to have the defendant bound over to circuit court. 

 

Judge: ‘Shooting someone with a gun is homicide’ 

Gross complimented both attorneys on their closing arguments.

“But the state is correct. The burden of proof in a probable cause hearing is low,” Gross said. “Whatever I believe about the defenses that are available in this case – and I certainly do believe that there are some defenses in this case – those are not for this court to determine.”

Gross explained that Sprague would be bound over on the felony charges to division one circuit court. He further explained his decision with a personal story that came from his brother, a federal military reservist. 

“This man down in Corpus Christi, Texas, shot at a gate guard and then attempted to ram the gate and get on base with a loaded gun,” Gross said. “It was investigated by my brother… who was tasked with investigating the homicide of the defendant that fired at the gate guard – the defendant that attempted to gain access to a military base with loaded weapons and was shot to death by those guards.”

Gross said when his brother first told him he was investigating it as a homicide, he was shocked.

“I thought, ‘That doesn’t sound like a homicide, the intentional killing of the man [who’d done those things],’” he said. “But there’s no question that the gate guards fired those guns. There’s no question that the bullets killed that man. And that’s a homicide.’ The question is, was it justifiable? And that is not for this court to decide.”

Gross said a jury or the division one circuit court judge  should decide if the shooting was justifiable. 

Sprague is scheduled to be arraigned before Circuit Judge Craig Carter in division one court at 9 a.m. Wednesday, May 5. The higher court will be where Sprague will have the option to plead guilty or go to trial for the charges. 

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