Sheriff’s Office says man’s truck had to be held for evidence following hit-and-run death

CLAY COUNTY, Mo. (KCTV) - Authorities in Clay County say a tow company held a man’s truck as evidence in a hope for leads in an unsolved hit-and-run.

The family of 30-year-old John Paul R. Scheidecker, who died July 30, 2023, in a possible hit-and-run crash in Clay County, wants answers as to why a $17,000 bill was required to regain possession of his truck.

“We’ve got a unique situation here that we feel is extremely unfair and not right,” said Elaine Scheidecker, the mother of John Paul, in a Facebook post Thursday.

John Paul’s truck was taken to L&L Towing, one of more than a dozen local tow companies the Sheriff’s Office uses on a rotating basis for incidents involving a tow truck. The family claims multiple efforts were made to retrieve it but were told it couldn’t be released because it was part of an investigation into his death.

“His truck was the most evidence we had and part of the crime scene,” a spokesperson for the Clay County Sheriff’s Office told KCTV. “We retained the truck for investigation while we waited on subpoenas to collect electronic data from it.”

The Sheriff’s Office said the position of some items inside the truck led them to believe another person could possibly have been inside the vehicle prior to the crash. As a result, authorities needed to wait on DNA results to rule that out and to preserve evidence the truck needed to be kept inside.

Jay Lemons, who owns L&L Towing, told KCTV Friday afternoon the company was called by the Sheriff’s Office to store Scheidecker’s vehicle. L&L Towing charges $60 per day for storage and Lemons said the vehicle was held for evidence until March 15.

That day the Clay County Sheriff’s Office determined no more leads would be available from the truck.

“We told them the tow bill would likely be large and to their insurance company, which often pays those fees,” a Clay County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said.

When presented with a bill, Lemons said a family member was unwilling to pay, which led to a lienholder paying the more than $17,000 bill on May 3, 2024.

Elaine said the sheriff’s department and tow company claim they aren’t responsible for the bill and said it’s not fair the family is being asked to pay the bill for a truck to sit in a garage during an investigation.

“No one should be forced to pay a bill like this (especially) when it wasn’t our fault he was killed,” Elaine wrote on Facebook. “Plus (there were) no leads in his murder investigation either.”

Lemons made clear Elaine has not paid the company, despite claiming as such in the social media post.

“She has not paid a dime to me,” Lemons said.

The Sheriff’s Office said in October 2023 it began reviewing its tow policies, including the contracts with those companies moving forward. A spokesperson said the Clay County Sheriff’s Office would like to make a revision to the policy to include reduced rates for vehicles involved in crimes that must be held for evidence.

Lemons said he’s unaware of discussions regarding a change to that policy.

“If tow companies want to continue to do business with the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, they will have to agree to those ,” a spokesperson said. “We hope to have the new contracts ready by the end of the year. We also are revising our policies to minimize the amount of time evidentiary vehicles must remain at a tow facility to mitigate costs to victims.”

The Sheriff’s Office said the lienholder is now attempting to get the family to reimburse the cost of the storage, which will become a civil matter.

“We realize how difficult this is for the family to deal with on top of their grief and the unsolved nature of their loved one’s death. That’s why we’ve been working to change our policies and contracts with tow companies,” the Clay County Sheriff’s Office said. “Unfortunately, there are no public funding sources or systems in place to allow for the storage of evidentiary vehicles, barring a state legislative change, which we would love to see.

“This has occurred in cases throughout the state.”

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