Public records describe the weapon, witnesses and arrest but not what drove Carter Joshua Curtis to kill John McMurphy.
ADRIAN, Mo. — Carter Joshua Curtis said he “had to” shoot his stepfather, then admitted nearly two years later that the killing amounted to second-degree murder, leaving the criminal case settled but his stated reason unexplained.
Curtis received 20 years in prison for killing 41-year-old John McMurphy inside an Adrian home on Sept. 28, 2024. The guilty plea spared both sides a trial and reduced the original first-degree murder accusation. It also limited the public presentation of evidence about the family, any earlier conflict and Curtis’ thinking before he fired a .308-caliber rifle at the back of McMurphy’s head.
The public record gives a precise account of what happened after the shot. McMurphy’s wife awakened to the noise, entered a hallway and saw Curtis carrying the rifle. He handed it to her, said he had already called 911 and told her he had to act. Curtis then walked downstairs and away from the residence. His statement sounded like an explanation, but it contained no facts. Police did not quote him identifying a threat, describing an argument or accusing McMurphy of conduct that night. The probable cause statement also does not record Curtis asking for medical help for McMurphy. Instead, it says he notified dispatchers that he had shot his father and remained close enough for officers to find him about one block away. His surrender-like conduct helped identify him, but it did not answer why the killing occurred.
McMurphy’s wife found her husband face down near the dining table after Curtis left the immediate area. Officers who entered the home could see him from near the doorway and reported a clear gunshot wound to the head. Some accounts describe the floor as part of the kitchen, while others call it the dining room. The difference appears to concern the layout or wording used by separate witnesses, not a dispute over the residence. The fatal wound was described as being toward the back of McMurphy’s head. The released police narrative does not say whether he had been facing away from Curtis, bending over or sitting before the bullet struck him. It provides no account of his last words, if any, and does not identify anyone who saw the trigger pulled.
The physical evidence established a straightforward connection to a single shot. Investigators recovered a Mossberg Patriot bolt-action rifle chambered in .308 caliber. Police said the spent cartridge case was still in the chamber. The magazine contained no additional rounds. A bolt-action design generally requires a manual movement to eject a fired case and load another cartridge, and the case remaining in place indicated that the action had not been cycled after firing. The filing does not say whether the gun belonged to Curtis or McMurphy, although some published accounts referred to it as the older man’s rifle. Nor does it include a ballistics report tracing the recovered projectile to the weapon. Curtis’ own call and later plea made identity less contested than it might have been in a case involving an unknown shooter.
Several people were at or near the home when officers arrived, but their public accounts do not fill the gap. The first responding officer saw two distressed women in the driveway and a juvenile outside. Someone shouted that “he has never been violent.” Redactions conceal the speaker and leave the subject of the sentence uncertain. If the remark referred to Curtis, it could reflect surprise at his alleged conduct. If it referred to McMurphy, it could bear on how the family viewed the victim. The record does not allow either conclusion. Authorities did not publicly release a fuller transcript of interviews with the women, the juvenile or other relatives. No publicly quoted witness described a confrontation before the gunshot.
The absence of a stated motive did not prevent prosecutors from filing the most serious homicide charge available under Missouri law. Curtis was initially accused of first-degree murder, which requires a knowing killing after deliberation. He also faced armed criminal action because a rifle was used. To win at trial, prosecutors would not necessarily have needed to prove why Curtis killed McMurphy. Motive can help a jury understand a case, but it is different from the legal elements prosecutors must establish. They would have needed evidence of Curtis’ conduct and mental state, including proof supporting deliberation for first-degree murder. Defense attorneys could have challenged that element even if they did not dispute that Curtis fired the shot.
The negotiated conviction avoided that contest. Curtis pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Bates County Circuit Court in early June 2026. Missouri law defines that offense, in part, as knowingly causing another person’s death or causing death while intending serious physical injury. That charge does not demand proof of the additional deliberation required for first-degree murder. Prosecutors dismissed armed criminal action, leaving a single count for sentencing. Circuit Judge M. Brandon Baker imposed 20 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections and awarded 613 days of credit for Curtis’ pretrial confinement. Public defender Jeffrey Martin represented him. Available reports do not describe a sentencing recommendation from prosecutors or say whether the judge could have rejected the negotiated terms.
A guilty plea requires a defendant to acknowledge the crime in a manner the court finds legally sufficient. Still, a plea hearing is not designed to produce the same broad narrative as a trial lasting several days. Prosecutors may summarize essential facts, and a judge may question the defendant, but witnesses usually do not undergo full direct and cross-examination. In this case, no published transcript shows whether Curtis offered a longer explanation in court. News reports announcing the sentence quote the statement attributed to him on the night of the killing but no later statement of remorse, justification or apology. The records also do not indicate whether McMurphy’s relatives addressed the court or whether they supported the plea.
The 613-day credit shows how long Curtis remained confined while the case was pending. During that period, his defense could investigate his mental state, the family history and any evidence known only to the parties. Prosecutors likewise could review the 911 recording, forensic results and witness interviews. None of those materials has been broadly released. There is no public indication that Curtis was found incompetent to stand trial or that he planned to rely on an insanity defense. There is also no disclosed evidence supporting self-defense or defense of another person. The final plea to murder, rather than a lesser manslaughter offense, confirms that the judgment treated the killing as an intentional or knowing homicide rather than an accident.
The wording of Curtis’ statement remains important because it came moments after the shot, before lawyers or plea discussions entered the case. Such statements can provide evidence of a person’s immediate state of mind. Yet words alone may be ambiguous. “I had to do it” can express claimed necessity, emotional compulsion, resignation or an effort to justify conduct after the fact. The police document does not interpret the phrase, and the final conviction does not assign it a particular meaning. By agreeing to second-degree murder, Curtis accepted criminal responsibility regardless of what personal reason he believed he had. The state, in turn, accepted a conviction that did not require it to persuade jurors that he acted after deliberation.
The setting adds to the contrast between what is known and what remains hidden. The shooting happened inside a family residence on Eighth Street in a small community about 55 miles south of Kansas City. There was no prolonged search, public standoff or mystery about who called police. Curtis reported himself. The gun remained at the home. Witnesses directed officers toward the victim. The suspected shooter was arrested nearby. Those facts allowed authorities to establish a clean timeline after 11:23 p.m., but the private events before that moment never became part of a public trial record.
Curtis is now under the authority of the Missouri Department of Corrections. The 20-year judgment, reduced by his credited jail time, closes the prosecution. Any future parole process will concern whether and when he may be released, not whether he committed the murder. No public hearing is currently scheduled to explain his motive.
Author note: Last updated July 11, 2026.