A counsel status hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 24 for 77-year-old Larry R. Lindeman, West Plains, after 44th Circuit Judge R. Craig Carter granted a defense continuance. Carter was assigned the case in April after Howell County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Rizwan Ahad requested a change of judge.
The defense requested the continuance because Lindeman remains without legal representation. He was previously denied a public defender after state officials determined he did not meet financial eligibility requirements.
Court records show two handwritten letters from Lindeman addressed to Carter were filed on Aug. 5.
In the first, a motion to continue, Lindeman outlined obstacles in selling real estate to raise the money for an attorney, estimating legal representation will require an up-front retainer of $100,000 to $250,000.
In the second document, a motion to dismiss, Lindeman argued that Missouri’s “Castle Doctrine” applies to his case and requested that all charges be dropped. Lindeman contended he lacked the “forethought and intent” required for a first-degree murder charge, stating he had no way of knowing the burglary suspects would return to the vacant home he owned on Paula Drive.
He said went to the vacant house, armed with a 20-gauge shotgun on Nov. 8, 2025, after a family member informed him earlier that day the home had been broken into. He noted that he has always kept a loaded gun in every home he’s owned, and he had taken the shotgun to replace a firearm that had been stolen during the earlier break-in.
According to Lindeman's filing, both a criticism of the West Plains Police Department and a recounting of the day’s events, Lindeman’s wife dropped him off at the property, unknowingly without a working cell phone. He reported picking up scattered sports cards outside the home, then moving inside to the upstairs kitchen and living room to take inventory of missing items. During that time, he wrote, he heard intruders enter the basement through a door that had been left unlocked during the previous break-in.
Lindeman said he prayed and feared for his life while listening to the suspects upstairs, but had no quiet way to call police without a phone.
When the first intruder reached the top of the stairs after about 15 minutes, Lindeman said he fired because he could not see the man's left hand and knew he was outnumbered. He said he fired a second shot after the suspect looked him “right in the eyes” and lunged toward him.
The suspect he’d fired on, 23-year-old Hayden Hilleman of West Plains, then went back downstairs and left through the unlocked door, Lindeman said, and the second suspect “departed upon hearing the shot.” Hilleman later died of gunshot wounds.
Besides first-degree murder, Lindeman is charged with felony armed criminal action. He was released in late February after posting $100,000 bond following a grand jury indictment. The case is being prosecuted by Ahad and Howell County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Hutchings.
The second burglary suspect, Keith W. Geringer, 33, West Plains, is charged with first-degree burglary and second-degree murder. TUnder Missouri law, a second-degree murder charge applies when a death occurs during the commission of a felony.
Following his arrest, Geringer reportedly told West Plains Police Detective Aaron Galiher that he and Hilleman entered the home through the basement intending to steal. Geringer noted Hilleman had been stealing from the vacant home for several weeks.
Geringer pleaded not guilty in early February and is scheduled for jury trial Oct. 21, before Presiding 37th Circuit Judge Steven Privette. He remains held in the Howell County Jail on a $100,000 bond. Geringer is represented Public Defender Thomas Flack and the case is also being prosecuted by Hutchings and Ahad.
