LEXINGTON, Mo. — Authorities on Wednesday searched a rural property in western Missouri for bodies and buried glass jars containing notes written more than 15 years ago by children who may have documented sexual abuse by five members of their own family.
Lafayette County Sheriff Kerrick Alumbaugh pleaded for the public’s help, saying investigators “believe that there are other victims out there.”
Alumbaugh said authorities believe there may be bodies buried on the property once owned by two of the five family members arrested Tuesday.
Three of the five men arrested are lay ministers in the Community of Christ church whose licenses have been suspended, church spokeswoman Linda L. Booth said.
The five are charged with several felonies, including forcible sodomy, rape with a child younger than 12 and use of a child in a sexual performance. The allegations, which include bestiality, forcing children into fake marriages with relatives and making an 11-year-old have an abortion, date from 1988 to 1995.
Officials said a woman came forward in mid-August with the allegations.
