Prosecutors traced the firearm to Stephen Scott’s grandmother before jurors convicted him of murdering Margaret Delcour and Wendy Rhodes.
QULIN, Mo. — Before Margaret Delcour and Wendy Rhodes were killed inside a Qulin home, prosecutors say the gun used in their deaths had traveled with Stephen T. Scott from a different part of Missouri after he stole it from his grandmother in St. Charles County.
That account of the firearm was among the facts highlighted by the Missouri Attorney General’s Office after a Phelps County jury convicted Scott on Aug. 28. The verdict came on eight charges: two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action tied to those killings, first-degree child endangerment, an armed criminal action count related to the child-endangerment offense, unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful possession of a weapon. Scott is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 3, according to local reporting.
The gun’s origin links events in St. Charles County to a fatal encounter hundreds of miles away in southeast Missouri, but authorities have not publicly provided a detailed account in the reviewed reports of when Scott took the firearm or how long he possessed it before the killings. The attorney general’s post-trial summary says only that Scott stole the gun from his grandmother before visiting the Rhodes residence with his then-girlfriend, Candace Gurley. That limited account is enough to establish the state’s theory of possession without filling in details that have not been publicly verified.
Scott’s arrival at the Qulin residence was initially a visit, according to prosecutors. What followed turned the home into the scene of a double homicide. A probable cause affidavit reported by KWOC said a witness told investigators that Scott argued with Rhodes and Delcour before shooting them. The attorney general’s office said the trial evidence showed that Scott fired three times at each woman and killed them. Two minors were inside the home at the time.
Those children also became part of the criminal prosecution. The state secured a conviction for first-degree endangering the welfare of a child and an associated armed criminal action charge. Law&Crime, citing KFVS, reported that a 7-year-old boy witnessed the shootings and that his 4-year-old brother was also inside. The reviewed public reports do not identify either child, and officials have not released a detailed account of what happened to them after deputies reached the home.
The police response began at about 1 a.m. Dec. 4, 2022. Butler County Sheriff Mark Dobbs told KWOC that deputies were dispatched to a home in the 100 block of New Hampshire Street after receiving a report of two people being shot. Deputies entered the scene and found two women dead with apparent gunshot injuries. At first, the sheriff’s office disclosed little beyond the location, the deaths and the fact that investigators had identified Scott as a suspect.
The victims’ names were released the next day. Butler County Coroner Jim Akers identified Rhodes as a 48-year-old Qulin resident and Delcour as a 36-year-old resident of Broseley. Their identification turned an initial report about two unnamed women into a homicide case centered on two specific victims. Authorities also publicly described the witness account of an argument and said Scott had been taken into custody in Dexter.
How he was found added an unusual final stage to the immediate chronology. The sheriff’s initial statement said Scott surrendered in Dexter later Sunday morning. Law&Crime later reported that police were called to a Walmart in Dexter because a suspicious person was trying to enter the store before it opened, and that Scott was taken into custody there at about 5 a.m. The later account does not change the more consequential facts of the case, but it helps explain how his flight from Qulin ended only hours after deputies were summoned to the shooting scene.
Investigators also received a statement from Scott that offered his explanation for the shooting. According to probable cause material described by Law&Crime, he said he had been using methamphetamine and believed his life was in danger. The assertion was not treated by prosecutors as resolving the case in his favor. First-degree murder charges remained at its center, and the jury’s guilty verdicts in 2026 established criminal liability after the state and defense had an opportunity to present their cases in court.
Early charging reports contained more counts than the eight on which the final guilty verdicts were announced. In December 2022, KWOC reported that Scott faced two first-degree murder counts, four armed criminal action counts and separate child and weapons allegations. By the time the attorney general announced the verdict, the list was defined as two murder counts, three armed criminal action counts in total, a child-endangerment count and two weapons offenses. The final verdict announcement, rather than the initial charging list, reflects the offenses of which Scott has now been convicted.
The prosecution also moved beyond the agencies that handled the first hours of the case. The Butler County Sheriff’s Department remained the lead investigative agency, while the Dexter Police Department and Missouri State Highway Patrol assisted. The Missouri Attorney General’s Office said it was appointed conflict prosecutor. Assistant Attorneys General Corie Geary-Atkins and Melissa A. Pierce represented the state at trial, supported by Carl Schwartze and Carrie Boessen.
The state identified the fact-finding panel as a Phelps County jury. That matters because at least one secondary report described the verdict as having been returned by a Butler County jury. KTTN’s report and the attorney general’s announcement both identify Phelps County, making that the stronger-supported account. The jury found Scott guilty Aug. 28, nearly four years after the weapon prosecutors said he stole was used in the Qulin killings.
Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said after the verdict that the outcome brought a measure of justice to the victims’ families while acknowledging that the killings could not be undone. Public Protection Section Chief Counsel Gregory M. Goodwin also credited cooperation among state and local investigators and prosecutors. The official statements emphasized the verdict and the work behind it rather than disclosing additional evidence beyond the facts presented in the state’s case summary.
The next proceeding will concern punishment rather than guilt. KWOC reports that Scott’s sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 3. As of Oct. 17, no sentence had been imposed, and the reviewed reports do not establish the precise punishment the court will order. The eight convictions remain the central legal result in a case that began with a stolen firearm, a visit to a Qulin home and the deaths of Delcour and Rhodes.
Author note: Last updated October 17, 2026.