UPDATE 6/7/2023 — Ellzey is accused of murdering Philip D. Thompson.

According to a probable cause statement written by a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper, the Polk County Dispatch Center received a call at 6:42 p.m. on June 5 about the death of the caller’s brother, Philip D. Thompson.

Officers arrived and verified that Thompson was dead and appeared to have been shot, the PC statement continues. He was found in a barn a few feet from where he and the caller lived. The caller said that Shane Ellzey also lives on the property.

The caller said he and Thompson went to a doctor on June 5 and came back to their home around 4:30 p.m. Thompson went to work outside, where Ellzey was working as well.

The caller said around 5 p.m., he was inside cooking dinner. About an hour later, Ellzey came into the house and asked for the keys to Thompson’s truck so that he could move it out of the barn. Instead, Ellzey left the property with Thompson’s F-150. The caller discovered Thompson’s body in the barn.

Police searched the residence and found two empty gun cases in Thompson’s room. In Ellzey’s room, they found Thompson’s wallet and cell phone under his bed.

On June 6, license plate readers detected Thompson’s truck near the Tennessee/Mississippi border and then again in the middle of Mississippi. Ellzey was later captured in Louisiana, where he used to live.

Ellzey has a bond set for $750,000. He was not yet an inmate of the Polk County Jail as of this morning, June 7.

UPDATE 6/6/2023 at 9:23 p.m. — Shane Ellzey is in custody according to Polk County Sheriff Danny Morrison.

Ellzey was arrested without incident at around 7:45 p.m. this evening in Louisiana, Morrison said.

Online court documents show Ellzey is facing three felony charges for second-degree murder, armed criminal action and stealing a motor vehicle.

UPDATE 6/6/23 — The Polk County Sheriff’s Office has released the identity of a person of interest in the death of a man found in a Polk County barn last night.

Shane Ellzey is considered armed and dangerous, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, and may be in possession of the victim’s vehicle, a 2001 Ford F-150 crew-cab truck possibly bearing the license plate #5HW36, and the victim’s firearms.

Anyone with information as to Ellzey’s whereabouts can contact MSHP Troop D or the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

The release from the Sheriff’s Office said the victim’s death is being investigated as a possible homicide and that he died from “unnatural causes.”

POLK COUNTY, Mo. — A man’s body was discovered Monday night in a barn in rural Polk County.

Sgt. Mike McClure with the Missouri State Highway Patrol says the Polk County Sheriff’s Office has requested assistance from MSHP’s Division of Drug and Crime Control.

McClure says an investigation into the death is ongoing, with more information to follow.

OzarksFirst will update this story as more information becomes available.