(SPRINGFIELD, Mo., AP) — Police have seized several items, including five computers and a kitchen knife block, from the home of a Missouri State University professor who is charged in the fatal stabbing of a former colleague.
Forty-three-year-old Edward Gutting has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of retired professor Marc Cooper. Prosecutors say Gutting killed Cooper on Aug. 17 in the 66-year-old man’s home.
The search warrants were unsealed on Tuesday, The Springfield News-Leader (http://sgfnow.co/2bC1WZc ) reports. Police are trying to find a motive for the killing.
Gutting’s attorneys say they’re seeking a psychological exam for their client and that he lacks the capacity to assist in his own defense.
The search warrants say police took a memo referencing Gutting’s salary from his home. A performance review and a computer were taken from his office.
Police seized a computer and the university’s tenure policy for 2013 from the office of Gutting’s wife, Angela Hornsby-Gutting. Hornsby-Gutting is a history professor at the Missouri State University.
Gutting is a Princeton graduate and has taught at the university since 2011 in history and the department of modern and classical languages. He previously was an assistant professor of classics at the University of Mississippi.
Cooper also worked in Missouri State University history department from 1980-2014.
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Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.news-leader.com