On May 5, 2020, authorities in West Plains, Missouri, discovered a grim scene near County Road 4000. Inside a red passenger vehicle parked on private property, law enforcement officers found the bodies of 30-year-old Richard Lee Kuntz and 28-year-old Frankie L. Ziegler. Both individuals had sustained apparent gunshot wounds and were pronounced dead at the scene.
The discovery initiated an intensive homicide investigation involving the West Plains Police Department, the Howell County Sheriff's Office, and the Missouri State Highway Patrol to determine who had orchestrated the violence and why.
Investigators soon unraveled a plot suggesting the victims had been lured to the location under false pretenses. According to court documents and police statements, the victims were contacted to arrange a meeting for a drug transaction. However, the true motive appeared to be retaliation. One of the suspects believed that Kuntz and Ziegler had previously stolen a vehicle and money from him. The plan involved drawing the pair to the remote location where an ambush had been prepared. When the victims arrived in their vehicle, a shooter who had been hiding in the nearby bushes emerged and fired multiple rounds into the car with a shotgun.
Three suspects were quickly identified and arrested in connection with the double homicide. Joey Allen Marcak, Levi Daniel Gunter, and Kyla R. Croney were taken into custody just days after the bodies were found. Authorities alleged that Marcak was the gunman who lay in wait, while Gunter and Croney were instrumental in setting up the meeting to entrap the victims. All three faced severe charges, including first-degree murder, armed criminal action, and attempted robbery. Prosecutors initially indicated an intent to seek the death penalty against Marcak, identifying him as the primary aggressor in the ambush.
As the legal proceedings advanced, the cases against the three co-defendants diverged significantly. Kyla Croney, who cooperated with investigators, initially pleaded guilty in October 2020 to charges of second-degree murder and was sentenced to twelve years in prison. However, subsequent legal developments in November 2022 led to the dismissal of the murder charges against her, and her sentence was modified to four years in prison. Levi Gunter, who had been facing first-degree murder charges, was released on bond pending trial. In late 2023, Gunter was reported missing, and his body was eventually discovered during a search operation in January 2024, ending his prosecution. Joey Marcak remained in custody, facing a jury trial for his alleged role as the shooter.
