Alva Review-Courier -

AURORA, Mo. (AP) — A prosecutor said Wednesday that he dropped a first-degree murder charge against a Missouri man in the 1988 killing of a 31-year-old woman.

A grand jury indicted Lawrence Timmons, 67, in 2019 in the killing of Cynthia Smith, who was last seen on July 28, 1988, leaving a bar in Mount Vernon, a city of about 5,000 people 145 miles (233 kilometers) south of Kansas City. Her body was found 10 days later in a cemetery near Pierce City, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of Mount Vernon.

Lawrence County Prosecutor Don Trotter said he dismissed the case because two important...