Tucker gets 22 years for murder, other crimes

Two months after he was found guilty of a trio of felonies, a Walnut Grove man was sentenced on Tuesday, Nov. 8, to 22 years in prison. Lakota Tucker, 21, was sentenced to 17 years for armed criminal action, 15 years for unlawful use of a weapon and five years for armed criminal action. His sentences for murder and unlawful use of a weapon will be served concurrently, but his sentence for armed criminal action will be served consecutively with his murder sentence.

Tucker claimed he went to property to claim belongings
Lakota Tucker killed Cory Estey, 47, on July 4, 2021 at house in Ash Grove. The Greene County Commonwealth previously reported that Tucker approached the deputies at the scene of the crime about 45 minutes after the killing and said, “I’m the shooter. I’m the one who shot him.”
Tucker was taken into custody and, in a post-Miranda interview, said that his mother had lived at the residence until her death in April of that year, and while he himself hadn’t lived there since 2019, he believed he had permission to go onto the property and take possession of some of her belongings.
Tucker said he arrived at the dwelling place and found a dining table outside of the house, which he loaded into his truck. He said he then went to retrieve a deer stand he left there and fired a rifle he had with him in an attempt to break the chain securing the stand to the tree. When he was unable to break the chain, Tucker said, he went back towards the house. Tucker also said he never entered the dwelling.
As he approached the building, Tucker said, he saw a vehicle parked near the driveway and an individual, later identified as Estey, “powerwalking” towards him. He said Estey demanded to know why he was there; Tucker said he told Estey he believed he had a right to be there to collect personal property.

“It could have been handled a lot different”
Tucker said Estey also demanded that Tucker get out of his truck so he could take Tucker’s information; Tucker also said Estey told him he’d called law enforcement. During the exchange, Tucker said, he started his vehicle to leave, but Estey told him he was not leaving with the table; Tucker also told the deputy interviewing him that Estey said, “If you wanna start shooting, we’ll shoot.”
Tucker stated that Estey ran behind his (Tucker’s) vehicle, and he said he heard Estey shout, “I’m grabbing my gun; I’m shootin’!” Then, Tucker said, Estey started running towards the west side of the house.
At that point, Tucker said, he pointed his weapon out the window in Estey’s “general direction,” fired two shot and “floored it.”
Afterwards, Tucker said he went home, took a prescription medication belonging to his father to calm down, and after showering, decided to return to the scene. He later told a deputy during an interview, “I didn’t want to kill him; I just wanted to f---ing scare him.” Toward the end of the interview, Tucker started crying and said, “It could have been handled a lot different.”

Tucker to remain in jail until prison transfer
Tucker, who was free on a $50,000 open-court bond which he posted on Aug. 31, 2021, was remanded to the Greene County Jail on Sept. 8 of this year after he was found guilty of murdering Estey. As of press time, he remained in the jail pending his transfer to the Missouri Department of Corrections.