KKK leader’s wife, stepson charged with his murder

LEADWOOD, Mo. (AP) –  The wife and stepson of a Ku Klux Klan leader found fatally shot next to a river in eastern Missouri have been charged in his death.

A probable cause statement alleges that 51-year-old Frank Ancona was fatally shot in his sleep on Thursday. His wife, 44-year-old Malissa Ann Ancona, and her son, 24-year-old Paul Edward Jinkerson Jr., were charged Monday with first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and abandonment of a corpse.

St. Francois County Sheriff’s Department detective Matt Wampler wrote in a probable cause statement that after the shooting, Ancona’s body was taken in Jinkerson’s vehicle to an area near Belgrade, Missouri, about 20 miles away.

A family that was fishing in the Big River found the body Saturday.

Ancona called himself an imperial wizard with the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

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10:30 a.m.

The wife of a Ku Klux Klan leader from Missouri who was found fatally shot over the weekend is jailed on suspicion of first-degree murder.

An official at the St. Francois County Jail told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/2lIow8U ) Monday that 44-year-old Malissa Ancona is in custody. Charges have not been filed.

Her husband, 51-year-old Frank Ancona, was found fatally shot near the Big River Saturday. He had not been seen for several days. His vehicle was found Thursday on a forestry service road near Potosi.

Ancona called himself an imperial wizard with the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. A website for the group includes an image of Ancona in a white hood and robe standing in front of a burning cross.

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2/13/2017 4:02:57 PM (GMT -5:00)