VERNON COUNTY, Mo – The probable cause statement against an El Dorado Springs High School student provides more details about the murders of his grandparents. The statement, which was made public on Tuesday, says Logan Ellison told detectives at least twice that the shootings of Herman and Rosie Ellison were accidental, before he admitted he intentionally shot them. It also indicates robbery may have been the motive for the murders.
Logan Ellison is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, and first-degree robbery. Logan, 17, and his brother, Chad, 15, lived with their grandparents at their rural home in eastern Vernon County, near the Cedar County line.
Ricky Ellison, father of Logan and Chad, found his parents’ bodies inside their home on Friday night. Ricky said he’d been trying to call his parents all day and finally went there to check on them. He found the lights off and the door locked, with no sign of forced entry. Inside, Ricky found his father’s body in a recliner, with a black coat over his head and face. He found his mother’s body lying face down in the doorway to a bedroom.
Investigators say Herman Ellison, 77, was shot at close range in the head and chest with two different guns. They say Rosie Ellison, 76, was shot with a small caliber weapon.
According to the probable cause statement, Logan first told detectives that he was going hunting at 7 a.m. Friday. He said he dropped a .22-caliber rifle as he took it out of a closet, and it fired, hitting Herman. He said his grandmother came out of the bedroom, grabbed the rifle from him and it fired again, striking her, and then fired again as she was falling to the floor.
When detectives told them that they knew he was lying, Logan changed his story and said the shootings happened on Thursday night. He said the rifle fired when he dropped it, hitting Herman in the head, and then fired a second time when he dropped it again, with that bullet also hitting his grandfather. Logan again said his grandmother grabbed the gun, causing it to fire, hitting her, and then fired and hit her again as she was falling to the floor.
Detectives again told Logan that they knew he was lying. They say Logan then admitted shooting Herman with a 30-30 caliber gun and the .22-caliber rifle before taking items from his grandfather’s front pocket, and removing money from his wallet. He said “the reason he shot Herman with the 30-30 was to put Herman out of misery because he was making noise after being shot with the .22 cal rifle,” according to the probable cause statement. Logan also said he put the coat over Herman’s head because he “could not stand to look at” his grandfather.
After the shootings on Thursday night, Logan told detectives, he drove around and threw the spent shell casings out the window at three different locations. He said he returned home on Friday morning, got clothes, went to school, and then to a football game on Friday night.
Ellison is in the Vernon County jail in lieu of a $2 million bond.
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