Businessman’s death leads to two arrests

The Hannibal Police Department arrested two men Sunday after investigating the death of a man who was found deceased on Broadway shortly after midnight Sunday morning, Aug. 10.
Police Chief Lyndell Davis reported the victim, a 45-year-old man, was found in the area of the 2100 block of  Broadway. While police haven’t released the man’s name, his family and friends have confirmed to the  Courier-Post that the victim is  is Rodney Wood, a supervisor with BVCP Enterprises and Campground, whose obituary is printed today on page 3A.
The victim had been riding a small motorbike, police reported, and at first they believed he was injured in a vehicle-pedestrian accident. However, the police investigation of his death “led us to believe he had been assaulted,” Davis said.
“Detectives assigned to investigate the death of the victim were able to gather information of the possible locations of two individuals believed to be involved in the assault of the deceased victim,” Davis said.
“Shortly after 3:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon Hannibal officers and detectives located and placed into custody after a brief foot pursuit a 22-year-old suspect in the 2100 block of Hope Street and a few minutes later took into custody a 21-year-old suspect in the 1900 block of Hope Street. “
Both suspects are residents of Hannibal and were transported to the Marion County Sheriff Department, where they are being held on 24-hour hold, pending issuance of arrest warrants.” Additional details will be announced Monday, he said.
On Sunday afternoon, Terry Sawyer reported she had just been with Rodney Wood’s family, and she requested the public be told that Rodney was acting as a “good Samaritan” when he was killed.
Sawyer said the Wood family was told Rodney had been riding his motorbike and had stopped to help a girl who was getting beat up, then the two people who had been beating her turned on him instead, and he was fatally injured.
Another friend of the Wood family called the Courier-Post to report the same facts - that Wood had been downtown with his wife, and while he was riding his Honda Hobbit home, he stopped to break up a fight, and he became the victim.
Later Sunday afternoon, Chief Davis said he was not prepared to discuss the circumstances of the man’s death, but would release additional information as soon as possible. “Our number one priority was to apprehend the individuals and right now we continuing our investigation.”
Davis added that the quick arrest of the two suspects was the result of two things: “detectives who have gone without sleep since it happened and  the cooperation from the public - those two things combined led to us being able to make the arrests this afternoon.”
Capt. Jimmy Shinn with the Marion County Sheriff’s Department and Sgt. Jeff Leftwich with the Missouri State Highway Patrol offered to help the police department, Davis said, and he thanked them for their assistance.