GREEN RIDGE, Mo. — It’s been almost a month since 56-year-old Barbara Hudson and her 26-year-old son Jeremiah were both found dead inside their burning home on rural, Morton Road in the small town of Green Ridge, Mo.
“It’s upsetting it really is because they were good people,” says Neighbor Dianna Askey.
“I bought my eggs and stuff from her,” Askey told FOX 4 News. “She was just a sweetheart, and I gave him rides to work. He recently was called back to work at Tyson Foods in town.”
The Pettis County Sheriff says on the morning of July 22nd, firefighters forced their way inside the Hudson’s locked, burning house. Once the flames were out, firefighters found Hudson and her son shot to death in a rear laundry room.
Investigators say the killer — or killers — torched the utility room to cover up the crime that’s rocked the small town of 400.
“We just want them to find whoever did it and put them in jail because there’s a lot of people around here nervous right now,” Allen Askey, neighbor, said.
“The few times my wife and I talked to them they were friendly people who kept to themselves,” Mark Maimer, who also lives near the double-murder scene, said.
“There’s a lot of conversation,” Maimer said. “Everybody’s kind of just, I think, waiting to find out something.”
Pettis County Sheriff Kevin Bond said they’re still waiting for forensic evidence and electronic information from the Hudsons’ cell phone carriers to come back.
Anyone who knows something about the crime should call the CrimeStoppers Tips Hotline (660) 827-TIPS./8477 or call the Pettis County Sheriff’s Office.
A $1,000 reward is being offered to anyone who has information that will lead to an arrest in the double murder.
