Convicted killer, rapist Jess Rush back behind bars after parole violation near Bolivar
It didn't take long for convicted killer and rapist Jess Rush to find himself behind bars again.
Rush spent decades in prison for the abduction, sexual assault and murder of Mack's Creek convenience store clerk Trudy Darby, a brutal 1991 crime north of Springfield that shook much of the Ozarks.
Rush and his half-brother and accomplice, Marvin Chaney, have also been linked to the disappearances and murders of at least two other Missouri women, but were never formally charged.
Thirteen months after being paroled, the 48-year-old was in police custody. Rush was sentenced to life in prison but was released in 2022 due to a Missouri Supreme Court ruling.
Rush was arrested north of Bolivar on Oct. 6 for being a felon in possession of multiple firearms, violating the terms of his parole according to Polk County Sheriff Danny Morrison.
He may be headed back to South Central Correctional Center in Licking.
“The citizens of Polk County are safer today because Jess Rush is again behind bars where he belongs," Morrison said.
Morrison said the Sheriff's Office received a tip that Rush was in possession of a black, semi-automatic 9mm pistol. After receiving a warrant and performing a traffic stop on Rush on Thursday at the intersection of Highway 83 and East 380th Road, the sheriff said a handgun and rifle were retrieved from Rush's vehicle and residence.
Rush was released from prison due to a 2012 Missouri Supreme Court ruling that bans life-without-parole sentences for juvenile killers. Rush was 15 when he and his older half-brother Chaney raped and shot Darby in a barn and dumped her body near the Little Niangua River.
Chaney died in prison in 2017. He was 56.
Rush and Chaney weren't charged in Trudy's death until 1995 before being convicted in 1996. In what had initially been a mystery, the case was featured in a 1992 episode of the hit series "Unsolved Mysteries."
In the 2018 series "Murdertown" available on Amazon, its fifth episode focuses on the Macks Creek murder. Its depiction:
"42 year old Trudy Darby is murdered in Mack's Creek, MO. When two more local women go missing police fear a serial killer. Silence reigns over the town until a call out of the blue reveals the killers are uncomfortably close to home."
Morrison said Rush should have never been out of prison.
“A monster like him should never be granted the freedom to live among us," Morrison said. "We hope his arrest gives some comfort and relief to the Darby family.”
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Convicted Ozarks killer, rapist Jess Rush is back behind bars
