PARSONS — A pair of newlyweds, who were married the same day a Parsons man had been reported missing, are in custody for his murder.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation reported Monday the arrests of Clint W. Nibarger and Kimberly J. (Thomas) Nibarger for suspicion of the first-degree murder of Dakota A. Patton, 23.
The duo were arrested in southern Missouri the same day Patton’s body was found in a rural Neosho County area.
Labette County Sheriff Darren Eichinger told the Parsons Sun Patton was last seen the evening of April 25 at a local convenience store with Clint Nibarger. Cell phone data later tracked Patton and Nibarger in a pair of rural locations in Neosho County, including where Pattons’ body was found 13 days later.
The KBI said in a news release Patton died of an apparent gunshot wound. The newspaper said a criminal complaint listed the date of the crime on April 26.
Patton was reported missing on April 27, the same day Patton’s brother found his sport utility vehicle in a field about a mile from his home. The vehicle’s tires were flat and had apparently been dragged to the location, the sheriff told the newspaper previously.
Meanwhile, Eichinger told the Sun that Clint Nibarger and Kimberly Thomas had apparently traveled around then to Texas and then to Miami, Okla., where they were married on April 27.
Then, on April 28, the sheriff said Nibarger had been hospitalized for a suspected drug overdose before releasing himself from the hospital either that night or the next morning.
The Nibargers had been interviewed twice prior to Patton’s body being recovered, the newspaper reported.
Tips to law enforcement last weekend suggested officers search a wooded area near 20th and Xavier roads in rural Neosho County, an area that had been searched previously.
The brush where Patton’s body was found was up to 2 feet tall, Eichinger told the newspaper, making it difficult to see anything in the previous search.
Another tip suggested the Nibargers had traveled to Taney County in Hollister, Mo., near Branson.
Kimberly Nibarger was arrested after she was observed leaving a residence in Hollister Monday evening. Clint Nibarger was arrested at the same residence about 30 minutes later.
The pair are charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
