A change of venue has been approved for the trial of a former Menard County resident who’s accused of murder in Missouri.
34-year-old Raymond Gum is appearing in a trial setting in Shelby County Missouri today after a motion to change both the venue and judge in the case was granted last month.
Gum is facing first-degree murder charges in the death of 34-year-old Crystal Cooper, after her body was found in Palmyra, Missouri in early September of last year.
Gum was the subject of a manhunt throughout West Central Illinois and was captured two days later in Petersburg where he lived before moving to Missouri.
According to KHQA, Palmyra. Missouri Chief of Police Eddie Bogue says Cooper and gum lived together in the past but were not at the time of her death.