News – Monday, March 24th 2025
According to court records, 44-year-old Brian Ditch of Salem has been charged with the stealing of $25,000 or more, three counts of the unlawful possession of a firearm, tampering with physical evidence, and abandonment of a corpse. According to the Salem Police Department report from March 21st around 8:00 in the morning, Salem Police officers and Dent County Sheriff’s Department deputies conducted a search warrant in the 1200 block of North Main Street in Salem. Police say the search warrant was an extension of an investigation into a missing persons and fraud case. Authorities found a body at the property, and the Dent County Coroner Ben Pursifull ruled the person deceased. The body was wrapped in several trash bags and placed in a trash can which was then wrapped in more trash bags and placed inside a bigger trash can. An autopsy for the cause of death is underway. Another man is in custody on a 24-hour hold pending the application of the warrants. According to court documents, Ditch apparently was stealing from his uncle, who was a quadriplegic and who not been seen by other relatives since 2019. The court documents also reveal that the uncle was receiving Social Security and Veterans Affairs benefits that came to $554,853 over the years. Those funds were being wire transferred to Ditch’s account as he had access to the money as the caretaker.
The Dent County Fire Protection District will host a town hall meeting tonight from 6:00 to 8:00 at the Salem Community Center @ the Armory. Representatives from Dent County Fire Protection District board, along representatives with the bonding company LJ Hart as well as the Dent County Collector’s Office will be present to answer any and all questions about Proposition Fire. The town hall meeting is open to anyone who wants more information on the proposition.
Last Wednesday afternoon and evening, dry conditions and high winds sparked several wildfires in the southern part of the state on private land, conservation areas, and National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service lands. Even though most of the fires were contained by Thursday morning, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) urges caution as higher-than-normal fire-danger conditions exist across most of southern Missouri. Specially trained MDC firefighting teams from the region worked with the U.S. Forest Service and local fire departments to contain and suppress the wildfires. MDC is also mobilizing staff and equipment from other regions around the state to relieve staff that have been actively fighting fire for several days, including ones burning in and around the Caney Mountain Conservation Area in Ozark County and part of the Current River Conservation Area in Reynolds County.
Christopher Olds, Salem District Ranger for the Mark Twain National Forest, will be the featured speaker at the Dent County Historical Society Speaker’s Series tomorrow at 6:00 in the afternoon. The event will be held at the James and Gahr Family Center in Salem. A community question-and-answer session with Ranger Olds will begin at 5:00, providing an opportunity to meet Olds and interact with members of the Dent County Historical Society Board. Olds, who joined the Salem Ranger District in 2023, brings extensive experience in fisheries and wildlife management. Olds manages areas of the Mark Twain National Forest intersected by the Trail of Tears and actively works with the Cherokee Nation to preserve and educate the public about this historic route. For additional details, contact Dent County Historical Society’s President Deloris Gray Wood at 573-729-2545.