Person Page 5,308

Obituary - (Findagrave.com):

The town of Vichy, Maries County and the entire area is mourning the tragic death of Susan Brouk and her two children, Adrian and Kyle, this week. The family was a victim of a brutal murder that authorities believe occurred between Saturday evening, January 31 and Sunday, February 1 at Vichy.

Susan Jo (Southard) Brouk was a life long resident of the Vichy area. She was a single mother, whose life revolved around her two children. Susan was employed in the production department of Talema Industries in St. James. Susan was a 1980 graduate of Belle High School, an honor student and a member of the high school band and choir. She was active in high school participating in the Future Homemakers of America (FHA), pep dub, vice-president of her class and a May Day queen candidate.

Adrian was 12, soon to be 13, and a seventh grade student at the St. James Junior High School. She was a good student and active in school. She played volleyball and was a member of the band and choir. Adrian hoped to be a veterinarian or a teacher.

Kyle was only 9 and a third grade student at Lucy Wortham James Elementary School in St. James. He played soccer and was a good student. Kyle dreamed of being an Army officer. A normal family, living a quiet life in a rural community; lives full of hopes and dreams taken away by, a senseless crime. Why would this happen, a question the family and Vichy area residents would like answered.

Susan Jo Southard Brouk, 36, her daughter, Adrian, 12, and her son, Kyle, 9, all of Vichy, passed away Sunday, February 1, 1998. Susan Brouk was born October 23, 1961, in Rolla. She was the daughter of Joseph and Winifred (Baker) Southard. She was a lifelong resident of this area and was employed by Talema Industries in St. James. Susan is survived by and will be sadly missed by her parents, Joseph Southard of Vichy and Winifred Southard of Rolla; one brother and sister-in-law, Michael and Susan Southard of Rolla; three sisters, Joy Southard of St. Robert, Kay Southard of Bland and Barb Hill of Cole Camp. Susan was preceded in death by a brother, Marvin.

Adrian Brouk was born March 12 1985, in Rolla; the daughter of Christopher and Susan (Southard) Brouk. She was a lifelong resident of this area and a seventh grade student at St. James Junior High School. Kyle Brouk was born Sept. 17, 1988, at Rolla; the son of Christopher and Susan (Southard) Brouk. He was a lifelong area resident and a third grade student at Lucy Wortham James Elementary School, St James.

Article Regarding the Murders

Columbia Daily Tribune; Columbia, Missouri; Tuesday, 31 AUG 1999; Page 2 (Newspapers.com):

DNA, co-defendant hurt murder suspect’s cause

NEVADA (AP) – DNA evidence found on the body of Susan Brouk and the bedsheets where she was allegedly raped before being killed with her two children match that of suspect Mark Christeson, according to a forensics expert.

Christeson is on trial on three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Brouk, 36, and her two children, Adrian Brouk, 12, and Kyle Brouk, 9.  Their bodies were found Feb. 5, 1998 – in a pond near Vichy, about 40 miles southeast of Jefferson City.  The trial was moved to Vernon County on a change of venue.

If convicted, Christeson, 20, could face the death penalty.

DNA expert Cary Maloney of the Missouri Highway Patrol testified yesterday that the DNA found in Ms. Brouk’s vaginal tract and on her bedsheets matched Christeson’s DNA.

“I would expect to find only one match in every 1 billion, 320 million Caucasion Males,: Maloney said.

Earlier yesterday, co-defendant Jesse Carter, Christeson’s cousin who pleaded guilty to avoid a death sentence, testified about the series of events leading to the killings.

Prosecutors have said the suspects targeted the Brouk family about a month after they and Susan Brouk argued over hunting near the home.

Carter, 18, told jurors that the night before the murders, he and Christeson talked about going to Brouk’s home to have sex with her. The next morning, the pair went to the trailer home with two shotguns.  After going in, Christeson told Carter to tie up the woman and children as Christenson, carrying a shotgun, took Susan Brouk to Adrian’s bedroom.

Carter said that Adrian recognized him and said his name. Carter later testified that he knew the Brouk children from riding the same school bus and considered them friends.

“They were the only ones that ever talked to me,” Carter said. After hearing Adrian say his name, Christeson pulled Carter away and told him they needed to “get rid of them,” Carter testified.

The woman and children were then led outside to Susan Brouk’s 1984 Ford Bronco.  Carter said Christeson returned to the house and took a television, VCR, stereo and other items before the group headed for the pond.  Once there, Susan Brouk and the children were ordered out of the truck.  Carter said Susan Brouk said something that angered Christeson, who then knocked her down and slit her throat.

Christeson “asked me to cut Kyle’s throat, but I wouldn’t do it, Carter said.  “She was still breathing and she told the kids that she loved them.”

Christeson then ordered Carter to find a brick at a nearby barn.  When Carter returned, he said, Kyle’s throat had been cut and Christeson was holding his head under water.

“Kyle was gone.  He was dead in the water,” Carter said.

Carter testified that as he went to get another brick, he heard a shotgun blast.  When he returned, Christeson ordered Carter to hold Adrian while he strangled her, Carter said.    Her body was later put in the pond.

Carter and Christeson returned to Susan Brouk – who was still alive – carried her to the pond and threw her atop Adrian’s body, Carter said.  The woman drowned, officials said.

Carter said he and Christeson then went home, packed and left for Blythe, Calif., where they worked odd jobs before their arrest near the California-Arizona border a week after the killings.

Under cross examination by defense attorney Scott McBride, Carter said he did not remember statements he made to three psychologists within the past year.

“I told the doctor that I had made false statements and that I was told to do that by the guy who did kill them,” Carter said.  “He said he would kill my family if I didn’t.”

Note: It took almost 20 years but Mark Christeson was executed on Tuesday, January 31, 2017 at the state prison in Bonne Terre.

Obituary – St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Missouri; Wednesday, 28 FEB 1990, page 4SC (Newspapers.com):

Lloyd Wilson Moreland, 73; St. Charles

Lloyd Wilson Moreland, 73, of St. Charles, died Tuesday (Feb. 27, 1990) at St. Joseph Health Center in St. Charles. He was retired and had been a scriber at McDonnell Douglas Corp. in St. Louis County.

A funeral service will be at noon Thursday at Prinster-Paul Funeral Home, 240 North Kingshighway, St. Charles. Burial will be in St. John’s Cemetery, Sixth Street and Boonslick Road, St. Charles.

Visitation will be from 3 to 9 p.m. today and from 9 a.m. to noon on Thursday.

Among survivors are his wife, Rosie M. Sanders Moreland of St. Charles; one daughter, Alma Mehrhoff of Jefferson City, Mo.; one step-daughter, Lillian Dunlap of Foley; one brother, James Moreland of Winfield; two sisters, Viola Phirris and Eileen Bock, both of Vichy, Mo.; 13 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.

Memorial contributions can be made to a charity of the donor’s choice.

NOTE: The 13 grandchildren include biological grandchildren of both Lloyd and his second wife, Rosie (Tietz) (Sanders) Moreland. Her 29 AUG 1991 obituary has the same number of grandchildren. DLB 2025.

Obituary -- (via Findagrave.com):

The Belle Banner

December 8, 1999

Alma Lee Mehrhoff

Alma L. Mehrhoff, age 61, of Jefferson City died Tuesday, December 7, at the University of Missouri Health Sciences Center, in Columbia.

She was born Feb. 2, 1939, at Vito, to Lloyd and Margaret Southard Moreland. She married Chrissie N. Mehrhoff who preceded her in death on May 19, 1984.

She was a life-long resident of the Central Missouri area. She attended school in Belle.

Alma was a homemaker and then was employed with McGraw-Edison Company for several years and later worked as a nurse's aide for the Memorial Community Hospital.

She was preceded in death by her husband; father and mother; three infant children; and two brothers, Donald and Ronald Moreland.

Survivors include: four sons, Eddie Mehrhoff, Steven Mehrhoff, and Ben Mehrhoff of Jefferson City, and Tim Mehrhoff of New Bloomfield; two daughters, Linda Mehrhoff and Nancy Mehrhoff both of Jefferson City; and two grandchildren, Lisa and Brook Mehrhoff.

Funeral services will be conducted at 11:00 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 9, in the Freeman Chapel. Graveside services and interment will be conducted at 1:30 p.m. at the Liberty Cemetery in Belle.

Obituary -- The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, Virginia; Wednesday, 24 FEB 2010, page 15 (Newspapers.com):

SIDENER

Janet Sue Brookshire

Janet Sue Brookshire Sidener, 56, of Hardy, Va., passed away on Monday, February 22, 2010, in her home surrounded by her family.

Janet was born on March 3, 1953, in Rolla, Mo., to Blanche Lauraetta Southard Brookshire Fipps and Joseph Wright Brookshire. She was happily married to David Eugene Sidener for almost 40 years and had three loving children.

Janet was an artist who loved to paint on everything from canvas to wood and glass. Though her passion was decorative tole painting, she also created landscapes on canvas, colored pencil drawings, crafting porcelain dolls, sewing and knitting. Janet loved visiting the beach, exploring lighthouses and kayaking on Smith Mountain Lake with her husband.

Janet was preceded in death by both her parents; her stepfather, Delmar Brighton Fipps; and sisters, Dorothy Wilson and Connie Brookshire.

Her survivors include her husband, David, of Hardy, Va.; three children, Scott Sidener, of Lexington, S.C., Shawn Sidener of Haw River, N.C., and Carrie Sidener, of Lynchburg, Va.; grandchildren, David Lehtihet, and Brooke Sidener and Kate Sidener, all of Lexington, S.C.; siblings, Brenda Mesplay and husband David, of Columbia, Mo., Maxine Baird and husband Don, of Salem, Mo., Charlotte Fowler and husband, Lowell, of Salem, Mo., and Geneva Miller and husband Rich, of Rolla, Mo.; mother-in-law Jean Sidener, of Rolla Mo., sister-in-law Diane Head and her husband, Ken, of Suwanee, Ga.; and numerous nieces, nephews and friends.

The family will receive friends on Thursday, February 25, 2010, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Oakey's Vinton Chapel. A memorial service will be held following the reception at 7 p.m. A service will be scheduled for a later date in her hometown of Rolla, Mo. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Good Samaritan Hospice of Roanoke, Va., the American Cancer Society or the American Liver Foundation. Arrangements by Oakey's Vinton Chapel and Crematory.

NOTE: David Lehtihet was not a biological grandchild, he was a step son of her son Scott Sidener. Maxine Baird and Charlotte Fowler were her half-sisters from her father's first marriage. Geneva Fipps Miller was a step-sister from her step-father's first marriage. DLB 2025.