Jury trial set for man accused of murder
BRANSON MO NEWS: A jury trial has been scheduled for an area murder case.
Dakota Michael Claypole, now 22, is accused of killing Daxton Drake in December.
The trial is scheduled for May 21 and 22 in Greene County Court. The case will be heard by Greene County Judge Calvin Holden, who was assigned to the case after Claypole’s attorney requested a change of judge.
Court documents state Claypole took a 9 mm handgun from a gun case in the downstairs area of a home on Rainbow Drive, just outside the city limits of Branson. He told police he loaded a magazine into the gun and loaded a round in the chamber as he walked upstairs. Claypole told police he wanted to scare Drake, according to court documents.
The portion of the court documents that explain exactly what happened next has been redacted. After the redacted portion, it states Claypole left the handgun on the bed and took keys belonging to a witness, identified in the report only by her initials, and then used the keys to drive a vehicle away from the residence.
Deputies then arrived at the home to find Drake, 22, deceased. After dispatching information about the suspect, Claypole was taken into custody, without incident, by Missouri State Highway Patrol officers at the intersection of Missouri 165 and 76 Country Boulevard.
Claypole later told police he had taken the gun out of its case earlier in the day, loaded and unloaded it, and then put it back in the case.
He also told police he went to the parents of the unnamed witness to ask for money.
Court documents state that when officers searched the house, they found five spent shell casings in the upstairs bedroom.
According to Drake’s obituary, he worked as a maintenance man at Big Cedar Lodge. He left behind two small …
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