Longtime Retailer Involved In Recent Police Stand-Off Believed Murdered

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that longtime Gateway City comics retailer Kenneth McClure was found dead on Tuesday. Authorities suspect it was murder, and that it may have been related to the statutory rape charges facing McClure -- McClure missed a routine court appearance the morning of the day his body was found.

He was found in a state park near the Meramec River.

McClure made news in late October for holding a gun to his read when police came to his store to arrest him on the rape charges, leading to a three-hour standoff that ended in McClure's surrender and additional charges of resisting arrest. Free on bail, McClure had recently transferred ownership of Legends Comics & Cards to a relative, and was paying for his legal defense through the sale of personal items and with his retirement fund. His family insists that the weight of the charges had begun to work at the fabric of his life.

His last known contact was a telephone call to his lawyer citing car troubles as a reason he'd be late to the schedule hearing. His car was found in a different location than the body.

McClure was involved in a standoff with police Oct. 28 when officers came to arrest him at the comic book shop at 5850 Hampton Avenue on charges of statutory rape, assault and unlawful use of a weapon. He later surrendered to police and was additionally charged with resisting arrest. The charges related to multiple alleged encounters with a teenage girl in the shop, which McClure opened 20 years ago after a decade as a car salesman. The retailer denied all wrongdoing.

Kenneth McClure was 57 years old.
 
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