In the early morning hours of April 2, 2019, 29-year-old Nathan Dean Pritchett Jr., a male resident of Fulton, Missouri, was found deceased on County Road 136, east of State Road JJ in Callaway County. Law enforcement officers responded to reports of a disturbance south of Calwood around 2:41 a.m. and discovered Pritchett’s body lying in the roadway. He had sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the chest.
The investigation revealed that the violent encounter stemmed from an illicit drug transaction gone wrong involving methamphetamine and counterfeit currency.
Three men were implicated in the scheme: Justin Ray Witt, Joey Morris, and William Schoening-Scoggins. According to court records, the trio had arranged to meet Pritchett on the rural county road to purchase methamphetamine. They arrived in a borrowed vehicle with the intent to use fake money for the exchange. Morris entered Pritchett's vehicle to conduct the trade, handing over the counterfeit bills. When Pritchett realized the cash was fraudulent, an argument erupted. Morris fled back to the waiting vehicle where Witt and Schoening-Scoggins were seated. Witt, who was armed with a 20-gauge shotgun despite being a convicted felon, observed the altercation and fired the weapon, killing Pritchett.
Following the shooting, deputies arrested the suspects at various locations in Fulton. Morris and Schoening-Scoggins were apprehended at a residence on Churchill Drive, while Witt was taken into custody later that afternoon at a property on County Road 410. Investigators recovered the shotgun used in the slaying, which had been hidden in a vehicle on Witt's property, along with evidence of the counterfeit money. All three men were initially charged with second-degree murder under Missouri's felony-murder rule, which allows for a murder charge if a death occurs during the commission of another felony, regardless of who pulled the trigger.
The legal proceedings resulted in convictions for all three defendants. William Schoening-Scoggins and Joey Morris both pleaded guilty to their roles in the crime and received sentences of 12 years in prison. Justin Witt, identified as the shooter, rejected a plea deal and took his case to trial. In March 2022, a Boone County jury found Witt guilty of second-degree murder, armed criminal action, attempted possession of a controlled substance, and other related charges. In June 2022, a judge sentenced Witt to a total of 74 years in prison, ordering the sentences for murder and armed criminal action to run consecutively.
