The Reporter newspaper, Camdenton Missouri

The Reporter covers Miller, Morgan and Camden County in Central Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks and is published once per week on Wednesdays.

Published January 15, 2025

First Degree murder charged in stabbing death

VERSAILLES – A Versailles man has been charged with First Degree Murder following a stabbing on Friday January 3.

Codee Anthony Munson, 23, of Versailles, MO, has been charged with Murder 1st Degree and Armed Criminal Action. He is being held in the Morgan County Jail without bond.

According to the Probable Cause Statement (PCS) filed with the court, on Friday January 3 at 2:10 p.m., the Versailles Police Department was dispatched to a report of a stabbing. (The PCS did not state where in the city the stabbing occurred).

Once they arrived on scene they found a male behind the building, lying on the ground bleeding from the neck with a large pool of blood around him.

One of the witnesses said the suspect ran north and identified him as “Munson” and said he lived in one of the rooms at a motel.

Police checked with management and they said Codee Munson rented one of the rooms. When police got to the room the door came open and Munson was kneeling on the floor facing away from them with his hands in the air. Police placed him in handcuffs.

When he was asked what his name was he did not respond.

“Munson had cuts on bottom side of his left hand on his fingers. Blood was also seen on the floor of the motel room,” the PCS stated.

He had allegedly called 911 and confessed earlier, according to the PCS.

“I was later notified that on 1/3/2025 at 1413 hours, a male subject who identified himself as ‘Codee’ and indicated that his last name was ‘Munson’ called 911 and stated that he had just killed someone and he was in room (information redacted from report) and needed to be arrested. Munson said he did not know the name of the person that he had killed but the deceased was the leader of a terrorist group called, ‘4Chan.’”

The Reporter could find no terrorist group called 4Chan but there is an actual 4Chan which is an anonymous English-language imageboard website that came into existence in 2003.

The site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics and users don’t need to register and usually post anything they want anonymously.

As of 2022, 4Chan received more than 22 million unique monthly visitors with approximately half from the United States. 4Chan has been linked to various controversial things over the years.

Munson allegedly told why he killed the man, according to the PCS.

“He further stated that the deceased was ‘actually a pedophile and I just killed him to be honest so I’m kinda doing everyone a favor here.’”

A search warrant for the room was applied for and while waiting for it to arrive, the officer was told that the victim had died.

Police searched the motel room and found a black Buck Knife with an approximate five-inch blade and a sheath that apparently was for the knife. Police said there was no blood on the knife.

On a table inside the room was a cardboard note that said “(name was redacted from the PCS) is a terrorist.”

Law enforcement collected blood from the room for their investigation.

When police tried to talk to Munson in the jail he refused to speak with them (as is his right).

A hearing was held in court last Tuesday where Munson entered a plea of Not Guilty and said he needs a public defender, which he applied for.

A Bond hearing was scheduled for January 14 in Morgan County Court.