Man Charged in Killing in Southeast Missouri’s Bootheel

A man has been charged in the death of a 77-year-old woman in the Bootheel area of far southeastern Missouri.

Fifty-four-year-old Charles Scott Lipper was charged Monday with first-degree murder, first-degree, burglary and first-degree robbery in the weekend killing of Vada Nichols in the town of Cardwell. He is jailed without bond. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.

Dunklin County Sheriff Bob Holder says deputies received a 911 call Sunday from someone saying their mother had been killed. Lipper was taken into custody in Kennett, which is about 10 miles (16.09 kilometers) northeast of Cardwell. An autopsy is planned for Monday to determine Nichols' cause of death.