SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - A Springfield man was charged Friday with beating a homeless man to death with a pipe, Greene County authorities said.
Mark Akers, 45, was charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of 48-year-old Johnny A. Pendergrast, who was from Kansas City but had been living out of his vehicle in Springfield, police said.
Construction workers found Pendergrast’s body Tuesday inside a vacant building.
Investigators say surveillance video captured Akers fighting with a man and then dragging the man inside the vacant business, KYTV reported.
Akers had Pendergrast’s vehicle when he was arrested. Akers said Pendergrast let him use the car but Pendergrast’s family told police he would not have done that because he was living in the vehicle, investigators said.
Online court records do not name an attorney for Akers.
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