Alton man accused of murder and dumping body on the highway

OREGON COUNTY, Mo. — An Alton man has been arrested on charges involving murder and stealing.

According to a probable cause statement from the Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP), Robert C. Bender, 60, is accused of first-degree murder and stealing from his sister.

On Jan. 12, 2022, Missouri Department of Transportation workers were mowing the grass on US Highway 60 in Shannon County when they discovered the body of a deceased unidentified woman.

The autopsy revealed that the cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds. The autopsy also showed that the fingers were missing. MSHP believed the body was possibly placed in a freezer or cooler and was dumped on the highway around Dec. 25, 2021, and Jan. 2, 2022.

On Apr. 23, 2024, a woman told investigators her mother had been missing and she suspected her uncle who lived with her mother, Robert Bender, had killed her.

According to the woman, on May 25, 2023, she and her family traveled to Alton in an attempt to contact her mother. Bender was not home at the time. As they walked around the trailer house, she noticed there was a deep freezer sitting outside which was usually in the kitchen.

She said she looked inside a window and saw that her mother’s bedroom door was boarded up.

Bender arrived soon after and was taken by surprise by the family being there. She said he explained, unsolicited, that he boarded up the door because there was a hole in the floor.

She said Bender would not give permission to enter the trailer and he kept referring to her mother in the past tense.

According to the woman, Bender explained that her mother moved to Florida with a boyfriend and they would mail him a “burner phone” every month to let him know when to go to the Alton Bank to send them money.

The woman told MSHP that her mother did not have any boyfriends and was disabled.

The woman explained to investigators that Bender and her mother did not get along and had intense arguments regularly. She said the arguments would frequently escalate to the both of them threatening to kill each other, but said it never became physical as far as she knew.

After verifying the identity of the deceased woman as Bender’s sister, investigators discovered someone had been withdrawing money from the victim’s social security funds every month. The amount stolen was at least $49,910.

On July 17, 2024, MSHP served a search warrant resulting in the seizure of several items and firearms as well as discovering large blood stains on the ceiling of the victim’s bedroom.

Bender was arrested and jailed in Oregon County with no bond.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOLR - OzarksFirst.com.