Dad murders wife, wounds father-in-law over "custody dispute" (Lawson, Missouri)

Dad ALEX C. CATON is "believed" to have murdered his wife, the mother of their 18-month-old child, and wounded her father in a murder-suicide. According to police, "an issue over child custody may have preceded the killings."

In other words, police had been called earlier that night about a "child custody issue" at the residence, but they failed to investigate properly. They "cleared the disturbance," said everybody was "cordial" (really?), and that it all "seemed ok." Yes, indeed. It was so "ok" that Daddy erupted into a shooting spree shortly thereafter. You wonder who the police talked to --and how--before they "cleared" the situation.

http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/2010/04/alex_c_caton_michelle_caton_murder-suicide.php

Alex and Michelle Caton dead in apparent murder-suicide
By Justin Kendall, Thursday, Apr. 1 2010 @ 10:52AM

Alex C. Caton is believed to have killed his 21-year-old wife, Michelle Caton, and then himself in an apparent murder-suicide in the 500 block of Country Drive in Lawson, Missouri, Wednesday night.

Caton, 23, also is believed to have shot and wounded his father-in-law, Dale Banning. An 18-month-old child was left unharmed.

Lawson Chief of Police Brian Lafavor tells The Pitch that police found Banning, shot once, lying in the street around 10 p.m. Neighbors told police that they heard Banning saying, "My son-in-law shot me, call 911 and take care of my grandchild."

Inside the home, police found the bodies of Alex and Michelle Caton, both fatally shot.

"We knew shots came from the residence," Lafavor says. "We didn't know that we weren't going to find anybody alive in the home."

Police believe the an issue over child custody may have preceded the killings. Earlier that night, police responded to a call concerning child custody, but the disturbance was "cleared" and "everything seemed OK" and "everyone was cordial," Lafavor says.

"Little did you know," he adds. "We never had any problems out of them before."

Lafavor says police are still waiting on autopsy reports, but so far evidence points to Alex Caton being the suspect in the murder-suicide.

Banning was airlifted to a local hospital and is now in "very stable condition," Lafavor says.

Police say Alex Caton served in the military, but they didn't have any additional details of his service.

This incident marks the first homicide in Lawson in 2010, and the city's first homicide since 2001. Lawson is a community of about 2,500 people.