Running away from his Missouri home with a group of younger companions, he took his brother's car and his father's shotgun and rifles and drove to Oklahoma, where he momentarily lost control of the car on a turnpike. When his passengers warned that a highway patrol car was nearby, he boasted that if the officer tried to stop him he would ''blow him away.'' He obeyed an order to pull over and, as the officer approached on foot, stuck a loaded shotgun out the window and shot the officer dead.