BUFFALO, Mo. — A second person has been sentenced to life in jail for the death of a lady who was retained in a cage and dismembered in southwest Missouri in 2021.
Timothy Norton was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty in Dallas County court to initial-degree murder in the demise of 33-yr-outdated Cassie Rainwater. As part of his plea settlement, costs of kidnapping and abandonment of a corpse were dropped.
One more guy, James Phelps, entered an Alford plea earlier this yr in the similar situation and was also sentenced to lifetime in jail with out likelihood of parole.
The two men had been arrested in September 2021 right after the FBI obtained a tip about shots demonstrating Rainwater in a cage on Phelps’ residence close to Lebanon, Missouri. Extra photographs showed Rainwater dismembered and disemboweled. Some of her continues to be had been located in a deep freezer, authorities claimed.
Norton explained to KYTV after his sentencing that he deserved to die. He explained he and Phelps considered Rainwater experienced stolen from them and wanted their goods back, and issues went “sideways” at Phelps’ residence.
Rainwater was described missing in August 2021 by a female who reported she was final observed with Phelps. Phelps told investigators that Rainwater was being with him, but she experienced still left for Colorado, according to court records.
Phelps’ house later burned to the ground in what investigators established was arson.
