PLATTE COUNTY, Mo. — A Platte City man has been charged with the murder of one woman and brutally attacking a second woman. Quintin O’Dell, 22, has been charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of Alissa Shippert.
Court documents show O’Dell allegedly murdered Shippert near a boat ramp at the Platte Falls Conservation area on May 31, 2011. O’Dell was a co-worker of Shippert’s. He told sheriff’s deputies during an interview on January 5 and 6 that he went to see Shippert as she fished along the Platte River.
O’Dell told investigators he got into a confrontation with Shippert after she believed he had drowned while swimming in the river. Police say O’Dell then struck Shippert in the back of the head with a hatchet. He continued to strike her repeatedly until she stopped crying or breathing. O’Dell then allegedly pulled Shippert’s body into the river.
The suspect told detectives he left the scene by floating back to Platte City in the Platte River, returned to home, took a shower, and went to sleep.
O’Dell is also being charged in the attack of Brittany Costello. On December 26, 2011, O’Dell allegedly went to the apartment of a 21-year-old woman in Ferrelview. In an initial interview, O’Dell told investigators he left the apartment while she was alive. At a later interview with deputies, O’Dell allegedly told investigators that, while he was at the woman’s apartment on December 26, he overheard a telephone call in which the woman argued with a recent boyfriend. O’Dell allegedly became enraged as a result of the argument between the woman and her boyfriend, grabbed a razor blade from the counter of the woman’s kitchen and cut open Costello’s abdomen.
Court documents indicate O’Dell told deputies he recalled seeing the woman’s intestines fall out of her abdomen on the living room floor. He then allegedly walked out the apartment, went home, and woke up the next morning to find dried blood on his hands and shirt. O’Dell allegedly threw away the shirt.
O’Dell has been charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action for the December 26 incident. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder charge. Prosecutors could also seek the death penalty against O’Dell. Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said he would review the case to determine whether the State would seek the death penalty.
O’Dell is being held in the Platte County Jail in lieu of a $750,000 cash bond.