Funeral services scheduled for victims of Missouri shooting as investigation continues

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Funeral services for four of seven people slain last week in a small town in Missouri are scheduled for Thursday as authorities seek a motive in the killings.

The four are members of a family killed in the shootings on Thursday in Tyrone, Missouri. Their funeral will take place at the First General Baptist Church in Willow Springs, Missouri, according to the Elliott-Gentry-Carder Funeral Home.

They are Garold Aldridge, 52; his wife Julie Aldridge, 47; Harold Aldridge, 50; and his wife Janell Aldridge, 48.

Joseph Aldridge, 36, a cousin of Garold and Harold, shot the two couples in their homes in a rampage that also took the lives of Carey Shriver, 46; his wife Valirea Shriver, 44; and Carey’s father Darrell Shriver, 68, in their homes, authorities said.

The shooting began after Joseph Aldridge found his mother dead of natural causes in her home, authorities said. He later shot himself to death in his vehicle in a neighboring county, they said.

Services are pending for the Shrivers, who ran Shriver Companies, a cabinet-making, construction and cattle business in Elk Creek, Missouri. Online fundraising campaigns have been established for the Shrivers and the Aldridges.

Authorities are investigating reports that Joseph Shriver either worked at or had applied for a job at Shriver Companies and whether that had anything to do with those murders, Texas County Coroner Tom Whittaker said on Sunday.

“Nobody has been able to confirm that,” Whittaker said. “I know that the sheriff is planning on interviewing surviving family members to try to make some sense of this. We’ll kind of let things settle down a little bit.”

There is also speculation that his mother’s death led Aldridge’s shooting spree, Whittaker said.

“It’s still a mystery to all of us,” he said.

Texas County Sheriff James Sigman could not be reached on Sunday. Officials in the sheriff’s office and the Missouri State Highway Patrol said they had no new information on the shooting investigation.