Case Closes on Marceline Shooting

Witnesses told KMZU News that a fight had broken out at the "OK Tavern" moments before the shooting.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol has completed a 14-week investigation into a shooting incident in Marceline that left two men dead.  Agents with the patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control have ruled the deaths a murder-suicide.

Detectives reported finding Robert Niemeier, 27, in the parking lot of the Dollar General store in the early morning hours of March 24.  He was transported to an area hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.  Later that morning, a tip led authorities to a home in the 200 block of East Howell. When police searched the home they found Justin McDowell, 27, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The Marceline Police Department as well as the Chariton and Linn County Sheriff Departments assisted in the investigation.