A Jefferson City man accused of killing a New Bloomfield couple had been playing pool at their home the night before family members arrived and found them dead and the home ransacked, investigators said.
The bodies of Benjamin Bonnie, 28, and his wife, Sarah Bonnie, 25, were discovered on Christmas Eve along with the couple’s unharmed 4-year-old daughter, Jade, after the couple missed a holiday gathering. An autopsy determined the couple died of shotgun blasts to the head.
Brian Dorsey, 34, a cousin of Sarah Bonnie, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
When investigators arrived at the scene, doors and drawers “had been opened and strewn about as if someone had ransacked the Bonnie house,” according to a probable cause statement. The statement also said that Dorsey needed $60 to $160 to pay off an existing debt and that he had Sarah Bonnie’s Social Security card in his pocket when he arrived at the Callaway County Sheriff’s Department for questioning.
Sgt. Jason Clark, a public information officer for the Mid-Missouri Major Case Squad, wouldn’t speculate about whether the Bonnies were killed over money.
“There would be no way that I would know the motive behind who’s responsible for the murder,” Clark said. “I couldn’t even begin to speculate motive.”
According to the probable cause statement, Benjamin and Sarah Bonnie drove to Jefferson City on Saturday to pick up Dorsey at his apartment.
Darin Carel, a friend of the Bonnies, trailed behind in his vehicle to the Bonnies’ New Bloomfield home.
Carel told investigators that while at the home, he played pool with Dorsey and Benjamin Bonnie in the garage. Before he left, Carel told Callaway County sheriff’s Deputy Bob Smith that he saw a 20-gauge shotgun lying on the pool table and Sarah Bonnie’s white 1997 Pontiac Grand Prix parked in the driveway.
Family members discovered the bodies the next day shortly after 1 p.m. Later that day, the sheriff’s department identified Dorsey and Carel as “persons of interest.” Carel later gave a statement to investigators while Dorsey remained at large.
Late in the evening on Christmas Day, Dorsey used Sarah Bonnie’s cell phone to call his mother, Patty. Dorsey told his mother he wanted to spend time with his parents because “it would be the last time they would see each other for a long time,” the probable cause statement says.
Dorsey’s parents then traveled from their home in Warsaw to pick Dorsey up in southern Callaway County at a location where investigators later found Sarah Bonnie’s white Pontiac with the shotgun in the trunk.
The next day, Dorsey and his parents arrived at the sheriff’s department headquarters. Dorsey was wearing the same clothes he had on at the Bonnies’ home. Deputies found that Dorsey had Sarah Bonnie’s Social Security card in his pocket and a stain on his pant leg consistent with blood.
Investigators also found Dorsey’s shoes matched a shoe print on the Bonnie’s driveway.
During the interview, Smith said, Dorsey “acknowledged that he did not intend or plan for what happened to Ben and Sarah.”
Shortly thereafter, Dorsey was arrested on two counts of first-degree murder. He is being held in the Callaway County Jail on $750,000 bond.
Meanwhile, a trust fund has been set up at Callaway Bank to help the daughter of the New Bloomfield couple.
Sherri Redmon, the human resources director for the city of Fulton, said Sarah Bonnie made many friends in town through her work as a florist and as an employee with the city of Fulton.
“She was a ray of sunshine with everyone,” Redmon said. “And Jade was the light of her life. And that little girl is just, oh, if you ever meet her – dark hair, dark eyes – she’s precious.”
Redmon said any assistance would help ensure Jade Bonnie’s future. “We don’t need a flower; we won’t need anything,” Redmon said of the Bonnie family’s requests for donations.
“Just have them send money for Jade,” she said.
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