Weird Crime: Good Fences Don't Make Good Neighbors, Heroin Leads to Coke Addiction

Batty about crossing the line

A St. Charles County woman looked out her window and saw her next-door neighbors repairing a fence. She could have reacted any number of ways. But she chose one of the following actions:

1. She went outside to encourage her neighbors and thank them for keeping up their property.
2. She brought drinks outside to her neighbors so she can give advice to make sure the fence meets her specifications.
3. She informs her neighbors that her Xanax prescription just ran out.
4. She ran outside with a baseball bat and attacked the couple because the woman was on “her” side of the fence line.

Police said Jennifer Ann Shuttlworth, of the 1900 block of Diehr Road in St. Charles County, has been in an ongoing feud with the neighboring family for more than a year.

The neighbors thought putting up a fence would help. Wrong. When a plank fell off the fence, the woman went across the fence line to retrieve it and repair the fence.

Shuttleworth went outside with an aluminum bat and began arguing with the couple about the woman being on her side of the fence. The neighbors argued they were on an easement, but Shuttleworth insisted the woman was trespassing.

Apparently, this was an infraction on par with climbing the Berlin Wall from East Germany into West Germany before 1989, which could get you shot.

So, Shuttleworth poked the bat through a hole in the fence, trying to strike the man, who was on his side of the fence, police said. When she pulled the bat back, Shuttleworth fell down.

Shuttleworth got up and began hitting the woman with the bat, striking her in the right forearm, police said.

The woman was treated at St. Joseph West Hospital in Lake Saint Louis for swelling and severe bruising.

Shuttleworth is being charged with second-degree assault.

Nice try putting up the fence neighbors, but apparently it didn’t help. An order of protection couldn’t hurt. But, as Weird Crime readers know, it doesn’t necessarily mean your neighbor won’t go all Al Capone if the kids accidentally throw a ball in her yard.

So, Weird Crime suggests digging moat and erecting a 20-foot stone wall. If you put a rampart on top of the wall, there’s always the possibility of adding a pot of boiling oil.

Heroin leads to Coke addiction

One man was charged and another is suspected of burglarizing a St. Charles County home Oct. 4—after leaving an accident scene and abandoning his car in St. Peters.

Missouri Highway Patrol troopers investigated an accident in which officers said Williams left the scene and abandoned his car in the 100 block of Kindred Hill Drive. According to a Highway Patrol report, Williams admitted he and another man burglarized two homes.

What did they steal? Electronics? Jewelry? A decorative spoon collection?

No, but a decorative spoon collection does figure in later.

Williams and Walker stole a bottle of alcohol and two cans of soda, police said.

Timothy Allen Williams, 22, of the first block of Lost Dutchmen Drive in St. Peters, was charged with the burglary.

Williams told police that he and Matthew David Walker burglarized the home in the first block of Heather Drive because they were thirsty due to their heroin use.

Williams told police he was a lookout as Walker entered the homes. They also broke a window and attempted to enter an attached garage in the first b

Walker denied participating and has not been charged in the burglary. However, he was charged with unlawful use of drug paraphernalia. Police said he had eight syringes and 72 decorative spoons intended to be used to inject heroin.

Perhaps using a Niagara Falls decorative spoon only served to make Williams and Walker thirstier.