A Missouri man is accused of fatally shooting his 72-year-old mother from behind while she sat in a recliner playing video games on her laptop. Joey Skaggs, 54, has been charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in her death, according to Law&Crime, which cited the St. Francois County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies responded to a home in the Lake Hanna Development in Ironton, Missouri, on Saturday at 5:23 p.m. When they arrived, they found the woman with what the sheriff’s office described as “head trauma,” which was later determined to be a gunshot wound. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Her name has not been released in the reports about the case.
Skaggs, the woman’s son, was seen walking down a highway near the development, according to police. He lived in a different building on the same property. Investigators say that earlier in the day, he had been collecting scrap metal with his stepfather on the Lake Hanna Development grounds before the shooting took place at the home his mother shared with her husband.
Police say the suspect told them he stood just feet behind his mother
According to a probable cause statement, Skaggs went to the home where his mother and stepfather lived around 3 p.m. and retrieved a .22-caliber rifle from the kitchen. He reportedly told police he could see his mother from the kitchen as she sat in a recliner in the living room, playing video games on her laptop.
The suspect allegedly told investigators that he stood three or four feet behind her before he shot her in the head with the rifle. He then reportedly fled on foot. Police later recovered the rifle and a shell casing. However, investigators have not shared any details about a possible motive for the shooting, as the case remains in its early stages.
Skaggs was arrested without incident and booked into the St. Francois County Adult Detention Center, where he is being held without bond. His first court appearance was scheduled for Tuesday. The charges against him carry severe penalties in Missouri, as first-degree murder can bring life in prison without the possibility of parole if he is convicted.
The timeline in the probable cause statement places the rifle in Skaggs’ hands around 3 p.m., while deputies were not called to the home until 5:23 p.m. The reports about the case do not explain what happened in the time between, or exactly when the shot was fired inside the living room of the Ironton home.
In Missouri, first-degree murder requires that a killing was done after deliberation, which the law describes as cool reflection for any length of time. Armed criminal action is a separate felony that applies when a crime is committed with a weapon, and it carries a minimum of three years in prison on its own.
The reports about the case do not say whether the stepfather was inside the home when the shot was fired. Shootings inside a family home have surfaced in other recent cases, including one where police say a Florida teen opened fire on her mother and her mother’s boyfriend.
Skaggs has not been convicted of any crime, and he is presumed innocent while the case moves through the courts. However, the probable cause statement lays out the sheriff’s office’s version of events in detail, including the 54-year-old’s alleged account of where he stood when the rifle was fired.
Skaggs’ next court dates should give the first public look at how prosecutors plan to move forward with the first-degree murder case.
Published: Nov 4, 2026 10:45 am