BY JOEL CURRIER > jcurrier@post-dispatch.com
JEFFERSON COUNTY • Police today identified a shooting victim found along a highway Sunday morning in Jefferson County as Michael Maybearry, 27, of Imperial, and said they were holding a suspect in Maybearry's death.
Herculaneum Capt. Mark Tulgetske said Major Case Squad detectives are interviewing a man, 21, they suspect of fatally shooting Maybearry.
Police said the killing was drug-related and that detectives believe the gunman shot Maybearry from his own vehicle as both were driving down Highway 21 in Jefferson County.
Maybearry was found about 5:20 a.m. with six wounds from a .45-caliber pistol police recovered after arresting the suspect, Tulgetske said. Detectives are sorting out what led to the killing but believe Maybearry and the suspect had fought earlier Sunday.
Detectives are interviewing the suspect today and plan to seek charges.
Firefighters responded to an area of New Highway 21 and Old Highway 21, about three miles north of Highway M, where they found Maybearry in a red Buick Skylark that had crashed into some trees. After realizing Maybearry had been shot, they called Jefferson County authorities.
Maybearry was flown by helicopter to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, where he died.
Initially, detectives thought Maybearry was a St. Louis resident because his drivers license showed a St. Louis address where he was no longer living, Tulgetske said.
The St. Louis County medical examiner is conducting an autopsy.
