FILE 388 / 13 May 2023 / 68 MIN / express

A Wild Night At The Trailer Park

Cameron, MissouriListen

The town

N ↑Town centre (approximate places)
Static locations; no street basemap. Places and details. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

We are going to Cameron, Missouri, which is a small town in northwest Missouri, 50 minutes outside of Kansas City. about 0:03:27

History, in brief

Town note

The Hannibal and St Joseph Railroad came through the area; one of its founders was Mark Twain's father.

about 0:04:25

Town note

The line was planned to carry the Pony Express mail, but the intended route was too steep for rail, so a new community was planned beside the tracks.

about 0:04:46

1855

Cameron was platted in 1855, purely to be near the railroad.

about 0:05:03

Town note

It was named for Melinda Cameron, the wife of one of the founders.

about 0:05:10
All 4 history facts

Town note

The Hannibal and St Joseph Railroad came through the area; one of its founders was Mark Twain's father.

about 0:04:25

Town note

The line was planned to carry the Pony Express mail, but the intended route was too steep for rail, so a new community was planned beside the tracks.

about 0:04:46

1855

Cameron was platted in 1855, purely to be near the railroad.

about 0:05:03

Town note

It was named for Melinda Cameron, the wife of one of the founders.

about 0:05:10

The figures, as told

Money

Median home value$202,800
Median household income$45,784
All figures and comparisons, as told in 2023

Population

"8,987"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:04:02

Median household income

"$45,784"

Comparison: "about $10,000 lower than the national average". Direction: below.

As told in 2023 about 0:04:07

Median home cost

"$202,800"

Comparison: "low for the rest of the country". Direction: below.

As told in 2023 about 0:04:15

Population in 1986

"about four thousand"

Comparison: "about half the size of the town today". Direction: below.

As told in 2023 about 0:12:32

St Joseph population

"about 70,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:12:35

The reviews

3.1 / 5 · average of 7

5 stars

“A small town where everyone knows each other, with many restaurants and job opportunities; the reviewer suggests more shopping, or even a mall.”
about 0:05:21

3 stars

“People are okay; you can tell the high school dropouts because they are in the Walmart car park at 11 at night. Diversity is not too high but there are some different colours.”
about 0:05:52

3 stars

“The prison and Walmart employ most of the people in town; the job outlook is all right for people without advanced degrees, otherwise you drive an hour to work.”
about 0:06:42

3 stars

“Unless there is a prison breakout the reviewer feels pretty safe; crime is mostly underage drinking and drugs, and police are usually about.”
about 0:08:26

3 stars

“The reviewer would not live there again, calls it not their cup of tea and ranks it a three, but expects the area to grow because of the minimum and maximum prisons and a quilt shop in a neighbouring town.”
about 0:09:05

2 stars

“There are only restaurants and stores for young people.”
about 0:10:06

3 stars

“Average at best, with barely any selection at night.”
about 0:10:30

In Missouri

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The story

He threatened to kill her, Blair and himself, said Blair would never set foot in his house, and promised to take his twelve gauge and blow her face from here to kingdom come. Four days later she left for good, taking the children to a shelter for abused women in St Joseph. There she met Marsha Sherrell, who invited her and Blair to stay at her home for about a month. Sherrell later said the pair smoked marijuana throughout, were loudly intimate, that Blair spanked both children and made them sleep on the floor outside the bedroom.

Debbie, Blair and the children then moved into a trailer at the Cameron Trailer Court, a mobile home park in the 300 block of Highland Meadows in St Joseph. When she went to his house to collect her tax forms he told her he knew where she lived now, and she told a friend she was scared.

The children were staying with Debbie's parents in Iowa on 10 April 1986. He wanted to come in and talk to her and Blair; she said Blair was asleep and suggested they talk outside. He pushed his way in instead, his left hand behind his back. She felt something cold and like steel there, and he produced a sawn-off twelve gauge shotgun and pointed both barrels at her face.

Debbie grabbed the barrel. They struggled and fell to the floor as she screamed for Blair, asleep on the couch four feet away. Blair got up and walked towards them with his hands at shoulder height, about a foot from the muzzle. It fired once. Blair took massive shotgun wounds to the chest and neck, staggered, was pushed aside into the kitchen and died quickly.

Debbie wrestled the shotgun away. She pointed the gun at him and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. She ran into the bathroom and hid the gun under the vanity. He knocked the door down, dragged her out by the hair and banged her head against his knee. She broke free, ran out of the front door and hammered on the neighbours' door.

They let her in and she ran to the children's bedroom and hid under the bed. Mrs Anderson said she did not know and told him the police had been called. He ripped the wall telephone out, threw it down, told Anderson that he was dead and stabbed him three times. Anderson fought back with a beer bottle and then a coffee table, knocking him down, and ran to the back bedroom.

Police saw a blue pickup leaving Highland Meadows the wrong way down a one-way street and a squad car almost collided with it at about nine that night. Blair's body lay in a pool of blood, the shotgun under the bathroom sink, pellet holes in the ceiling tiles and no fingerprints taken. Anderson was in intensive care with a collapsed lung and survived.

The state did not seek the death penalty.

A chemist found human blood on his windbreaker sleeve and the shotgun stock but could not type or date it, and gunpowder residue on his palm proved only that he had handled the gun. The judge gave him 30 years for the shooting, 15 for the stabbing and 8 for the burglary, consecutive, 53 years in all, with 363 days' credit. The episode found no record of his death; he would be about 70.

The case

Murder of Ricky Lee Blair

Victims

Ricky Lee Blair (30). Debbie boyfriend and former roofing employee

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 13 May 2023.

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Richard Anderson. next-door neighbour, also called Robert in court documents; stabbed three times and survived
Genie Anderson. Richard Anderson's wife, who refused to tell where Debbie was hiding
Marsha Sherrell. met Debbie at the shelter and let her and Ricky Lee Blair stay at her home
Steve Gum. police officer who saw the blue pickup leave the trailer park

The timeline

  1. early 1986 and Debbie , married with two children aged five and two, are splitting over her relationship with Ricky Lee Blair, former roofing employee ( house)about 0:14:27
  2. February 3rd, 1986 Debbie secretly tape-records tirade, in which he threatens to kill her, Ricky Lee Blair and himself and says he will blow her face from here to kingdom come ( house)about 0:15:47
  3. four days later, February 1986 Debbie leaves for good with the children and goes to a shelter for abused women (St Joseph shelter for abused women)about 0:22:11
  4. February 1986 Marsha Sherrell invites Debbie and Ricky Lee Blair to live at her home for about a month (Sherrell house)about 0:23:23
  5. February 1986 Debbie, Ricky Lee Blair and the children move into a trailer at the Cameron Trailer Court in St Joseph (Cameron Trailer Court)about 0:26:33
  6. February to the first week of April 1986 repeatedly turns up at Debbie's workplace in Cameron, trying to get her backabout 0:27:25
  7. March 1986 Debbie collects her income tax forms from house and he tells her, 'I know where you live now'; she tells a friend she is scared ( house)about 0:27:45
  8. April 10th, 1986 The children are staying with Debbie's parents in Iowaabout 0:28:17
  9. April 10th, 1986 knocks at the trailer door, pushes his way in with one hand behind his back and pulls out a sawn-off 12 gauge shotgun, pointing both barrels at Debbie's face (Cameron Trailer Court)about 0:28:51
  10. April 10th, 1986 Debbie grabs the barrel and they fall to the floor fighting; Ricky Lee Blair wakes on the couch four feet away (Cameron Trailer Court)about 0:30:28
  11. April 10th, 1986 gets to his feet, jerks the shotgun and fires one blast from about a foot away, inflicting massive wounds to Blair's chest and neck; Blair dies quickly (Cameron Trailer Court)about 0:32:11

Places and phrases

N ↑Town centre (approximate places)
Static locations; no street basemap. Places and details. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.