Autopsies confirm 2 Joplin homicide victims died of gunshot wounds
Nov. 4—Autopsies conducted Thursday in Springfield confirmed that Stacy Rush and Eric Stampfli died of gunshot wounds, according to Joplin police.
The bodies of Rush, 35, and Stampfli, also 35, of Grove, Oklahoma, were found Monday night inside Rush's home at 2216 S. Annie Baxter Ave. in Joplin. Police had held off making public the cause of either victim's death pending the preliminary findings of those autopsies.
Investigators developed the slain woman's estranged husband, David L. Rush, 34, of Wyandotte, Oklahoma, as a suspect early in their probe of the double homicide.
Oklahoma authorities' attempt to detain the suspect Wednesday morning led to a vehicle pursuit into Missouri that ended on Antelope Road south of Seneca in Newton County.
With Newton County deputies, Seneca police, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and officers from Oklahoma all involved in the pursuit, Rush got out of his vehicle on Antelope Road armed with a handgun. During a three-hour standoff that ensued, Rush became increasingly suicidal and ultimately shot himself.
He was taken to a Joplin hospital in critical condition and was pronounced dead there later the same day.
Court records show that the Rushes were going through divorce proceedings at the time.
Police have yet to release any details of what happened inside the residence on Annie Baxter Avenue other than to say that a juvenile present in the home was not injured and not involved in what took place there.
