ST. FRANCOIS COUNTY • A Missouri Ku Klux Klan leader might have been shot in his sleep because he had told his wife he wanted a divorce, St. Francois County Prosecutor Jarrod Mahurin said Monday after filing murder charges. Frank Ancona, 51, who called himself the “imperial wizard” of a local KKK chapter, was shot at close range with a shotgun-type firearm, Washington County Coroner Brian DeClue told TIME. On Friday night, Malissa Ancona had said on Facebook that her husband was missing and asked that anyone with information call the police. Russell said he did not hear any gunshots on the day in question.
– The wife and stepson of Missouri KKK leader Frank Ancona were charged Monday with his murder. Police say 24-year-old Paul Jinkerson Jr., the son of Ancona's wife, Malissa Ancona, 44, shot 51-year-old Frank Ancona while he was asleep Thursday in his bedroom, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Police say Ancona's body was driven away in Jinkerson's vehicle and dumped. They say Malissa Ancona confessed to that scenario, and told police she helped to clean up and try to hide what happened. Police found "extensive blood evidence" in the master bedroom of the couple's Leadwood home. Ancona and Jinkerson have been charged with first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence, and abandonment of a corpse. The body of Ancona, who was reported missing by his employer last week, was found Saturday. The coroner also revealed Monday that Ancona, who identified himself as a KKK imperial wizard, was shot in the head with a shotgun-like weapon at close range and did not have any other bullet wounds on his body, Time reports. Authorities have not speculated publicly on a motive. When police searched the Anconas' home, they found a broken-open safe and discovered Frank Ancona's guns were missing. Malissa Ancona, who was at the home with Jinkerson when police came to search it, per the Daily Journal, claimed her husband had taken them, and that he planned to file for divorce when he got back from his trip. But his family says he wouldn't have taken all his guns with him, and the gun he typically did carry on a daily basis was still at the house. Authorities then searched around his vehicle, which had been found abandoned on Thursday, and found a burn pile.