Missouri man sentenced for murder of girlfriend in 2023

HARRISONVILLE, Mo. — A Cass County man is sentenced for the 2023 murder of his girlfriend.

Christopher Marshall, 50, was sentenced to life in prison for second-degree murder.

A Cass County jury convicted him in April of the second-degree murder charge and six other counts, including armed criminal action, theft of a firearm and four counts of illegal possession of a firearm.

In Missouri, a life sentence is 30 years unless the charge is first-degree murder.

At approximately 1:12 a.m. on Sunday, April 16, 2023, Cass County Sheriff's deputies were called to a home located in the 23700 block of State Route C Highway in Peculiar for a shooting. It was inside the house that they found the victim's body.

Court documents indicate that Marshall told investigators his girlfriend, Alyssa Jordan, 50, shot herself in the head then threw the gun into a pond before dying in their kitchen.

According to court documents, detectives were immediately skeptical of Marshall's story, saying they “could smell the odor of intoxicants coming from him…they also observed that the defendant stumbled while walking and had speech difficulties.

After obtaining a warrant, investigators quickly found three guns under a mattress, including one in a holster that detectives believed had been used in the incident.