51-year-old Frank Ancona, a leader of the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, was found dead Saturday along a Missouri river.
The wife and stepson of a man who identified himself as a leader in a Ku Klux Klan-affiliated group have been charged in his murder.
Frank Ancona's body was found Saturday afternoon in the Big River near Belgrade, Mo., by a family who'd gone fishing, according to the Washington County Sheriff's Office.
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On Monday, his wife, Malissa Ancona, 44, and her son, Paul Edward Jinkerson Jr., 24, were each charged with abandonment of a corpse, first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence, KMOV reported.
Ancona, 51, identified himself as the Imperial Wizard of the Traditional American Knights. He appeared on the group's website wearing the white hood and garb of the KKK while standing in front of a burning cross.
His car was found Thursday in the Mark Twain National Forest, but it was not reported as suspicious at the time because there had been no report of a missing person.
The County Sheriff's Office later grew suspicious after Malissa Ancona posted on Facebook Friday that she was seeking a roommate, according to reports. Her husband’s body was found the next day, several miles away from his vehicle.
An autopsy found he had died of a gunshot wound to the head.
According to a probable cause statement obtained by KMOV, Jinkerson Jr. allegedly shot Ancona while he was inside his bedroom. His body was then put inside Jinkerson’s vehicle and dumped in Belgrade, according to the probable cause statement.
Police said that when they searched the home, they found "extensive blood evidence" in the master bedroom, KMOV reported.
Malissa Ancona allegedly told police that her son had killed her husband while he was asleep, KMOV reported. She also reportedly told authorities that she didn’t file a police report, and attempted to destroy and hide evidence.
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Speaking with KMOV before she was charged, Mrs. Ancona publicly said she had cooperated with police.
She told the station she thought she had to wait 48 hours to report her husband missing but also said she believed he had left of his own accord for a job out of the state.
Mrs. Ancona also reportedly said he planned to divorce her when he returned.
She added that she didn't know who would have wanted to kill her husband.
"I know he's with a certain organization and there's been a lot of things along the lines of threats," she told KMOV Sunday.
