Anderson found guilty of first-degree assault, second-degree murder in death of Hannibal man

ST. CHARLES, Mo. — A St. Charles County jury found a Hannibal man guilty of first-degree assault and second-degree murder after a five-day trial concluded on Friday.

The jury believed Jason D. Anderson, 26, kicked Dusty Wilson, 49, of Hannibal and caused his death at the end of an Oct. 9, 2022, bar fight outside Rumor Has It Bar and Grill. 

Anderson waived jury sentencing earlier in the week. Instead, he’ll be sentenced by Judge Christopher McDonough on Jan. 17. He faces between 10 to 30 years or a life sentence in the Missouri Department of Corrections if found guilty on either charge, both Class A felonies.

The charges facing Anderson are the same facing Tiara Bonner, who was found guilty of after nearly 5½ hours of deliberation on Oct. 11 by a six-man, six-woman jury from St. Charles County.

The jury sentenced Bonner to 10 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections on the second-degree murder charge and to 13 years in prison on the first-degree assault charge. 

Bonner’s case will wrap on Dec. 5 McDonough will receive a sentencing assessment report about 10 days before that date and determine if Bonner’s sentences will run consecutively or concurrently. 

Anderson and Bonner both are required to serve 85 percent of their final sentences.

The attorneys representing the state in Bonner’s trial — Assistant Attorney Generals Corie Geary and Kate Welborn and Marion County Prosecuting Attorney Luke Bryant — were the same in Anderson’s trial. McDonough, who presided over the Bonner trial, returned for the Anderson trial.

Anderson’s defense attorney is Patrick Ochs with the Chesterfield firm of Ochs and Klein.

One other man was found guilty by a jury for his involvement in Wilson’s death, and another woman pled guilty.

A Boone County jury found Thomas Payne of Monroe City guilty of third-degree assault during an October 2023 trial. He was sentenced to seven years in the Missouri Department of Corrections. However, the jury also found Payne was not guilty of second-degree murder.

“We talked to the jury afterward, and they felt that Thomas Payne had acted alone on his own behalf and that he was not part of the group that continued to beat Dusty Wilson after Thomas Payne had kind of ended his portion of the assault,” Bryant told Muddy River News after the end of Payne’s trial. “They didn’t find him culpable of everybody else’s actions.”

Kaelin Rickey of Hannibal pled guilty to one count of second-degree assault, a Class D felony, during a Sept. 25, 2023, appearance in the Boone County Courthouse. She is awaiting sentencing. In exchange for Rickey’s plea, counts of second-degree murder and evidence tampering were dismissed.