Marionville’s Standifer accused of murder

Allegedly gave victim methamphetamine, cocaine that killed her
A Marionville man was arrested after a woman died from using methamphetamine and cocaine he allegedly gave her. William Standifer, 42, was booked into the Lawrence County Jail on Thursday, March 20. He is facing charges of second-degree murder and delivery of a controlled substance.
According to the probable cause statement in the case, on Thursday, March 13, at about 12:30 a.m., the victim, later identified as Amy Brenner, of Marionville, contacted Standifer after her vehicle broke down and went to his trailer. Brenner, 50, and Standifer had previously been in a relationship.
At about 4:15 a.m. on Saturday, March 15, officers from the Aurora and Marionville Police Department responded to Standifer’s address for an emergency call, where Brenner was found non-responsive. She was transported to Mercy Hospital in Aurora, where she was found to have a brain hemorrhage and was transported to Mercy Springfield. On Monday, March 17, she was pronounced dead. A toxicology report showed that she had a combination of methamphetamine and cocaine in her system.
A doctor performed an autopsy on Brenner and reported that she had an acute aneurysm caused by drug usage. He also said that the drug usage would have had to have been recent.
According to the probable cause statement, Standifer agreed to come to the AMPD headquarters on Thursday, March 20, where he spoke to an investigator in a post-Miranda interview.
He claimed that Brenner came to his residence around midnight on March 13. Standifer said, he gave Brenner a “bowl” of methamphetamine but denied using cocaine.
Brenner complained of a headache, so he gave her some ibuprofen, and she then fell asleep on his couch. He said that he suspected something was wrong after she lay there all the next day and didn’t wake up, so he called EMS.
The investigator stated in the probable cause statement that on March 20 a search warrant was served at Standifer’s residence. An AMPD officer reportedly found 25.4 grams of a white crystalline substance that field-tested as positive for both methamphetamine and cocaine. A glass smoking pipe was reported as being found there.
Delivery of a controlled substance is a Class C felony in Missouri, but Standifer is being prosecuted as a prior offender on that charge, allowing him to be sentenced in the range of a Class B felony if he is convicted. According to the criminal complaint against him, on Nov. 1, 2018, he pleaded guilty to distributing a controlled substance in the Johnson County District Court in Tishomingo, Okla.
If Standifer is convicted of both crimes, he faces a maximum sentence of 45 years in prison.