On the stormy morning of July 8, 2014, a violent home invasion in Grovespring, Missouri, claimed the life of 35-year-old Chad Aaron Gerber. A dedicated father and bricklayer who was also pursuing a career as an Emergency Medical Technician, Chad lived in a residence on Atlanta Road in Laclede County, near the town of Lebanon. The events of that day also resulted in the death of his 15-year-old stepson, Riley Gerber, a student at Conway High School, who was fatally wounded during the attack and
succumbed to his injuries days later in a Springfield hospital.
Authorities responded to the Gerber residence to find Chad deceased at the scene from a gunshot wound to the head. The investigation quickly centered on 65-year-old Matthew Mitchell Rumbaugh, a former businessman from Mountain Grove, Missouri. Law enforcement officials identified a motive rooted in a domestic dispute; Rumbaugh had allegedly been engaged in an extramarital affair with Chad's wife, Jennifer Gerber. Investigators stated that Rumbaugh had grown frustrated with waiting for Jennifer to leave her husband. Following the shooting, Rumbaugh was located sleeping at his son's residence and was taken into custody.
Matthew Rumbaugh was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, first-degree assault, and armed criminal action. In the years following his arrest, the legal proceedings saw delays and a change of venue to Camden County. The case eventually went to trial in April 2019. During the proceedings, the courtroom witnessed a dramatic and conflicting narrative regarding the events of that fateful morning. Prosecutors argued that Rumbaugh broke into the home with a Colt. 38-caliber revolver and shot both victims. Initial reports indicated Rumbaugh had admitted to investigators that he went to the home to 'cause mayhem' and eliminate Chad as an obstacle.
However, when Rumbaugh took the stand in his own defense, he presented a startlingly different version of events. He testified that he had been invited to the home by Jennifer Gerber and claimed he was merely present when she shot her husband and stepson. Rumbaugh alleged that he and Jennifer had rekindled their affair and that she had orchestrated the encounter on a stormy night to mask the noise. Conversely, Jennifer Gerber testified for the prosecution, asserting that Rumbaugh forced his way into the home and committed the murders while she and the children were present. The trial concluded with closing arguments in mid-April 2019, leaving the jury to deliberate on the two disparate accounts of the double homicide.
