APPLE VALLEY, Washington County — A Springdale man is accused of fatally shooting another man in a rural area of Washington County.
On Wednesday, Jason Howard Clinger, 51, was charged in 5th District Court with murder, a first-degree felony.
The crime was discovered after a bizarre and drawn out series of phone calls that lasted about 90 minutes, according to a statement from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
About 1:40 p.m. on Tuesday, deputies were dispatched to “a report of suspicious circumstances in the town of Apple Valley. The caller refused to provide dispatch with any initial information, stating they would speak with the deputy once they arrived,” according to the sheriff’s statement.
The caller, a woman, refused to give dispatchers any additional information other than “a general location in a rural area,” the sheriff’s office stated.
Based on that limited information, deputies were unsuccessful in finding the scene. Just before 3 p.m. the woman called back stating that help was needed.
“In response to what help was needed, she would only respond ‘We are harmless and need help from the county sheriff,’” according to the sheriff's office.
Deputies were instructed to follow a dirt road through a gate and past some trees.
“Due to the caller’s unwillingness to provide the nature of the services needed and the suspicious requests for a deputy to respond to what was described as an isolated area, the sheriff’s office administration elected to delay the response of deputies until additional information could be gathered,” the department stated.
About 10 minutes later, the caller “explained they needed deputies to respond on a death investigation. The initial information provided to deputies was the victim had possibly been deceased for several hours,” according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies responded to a residence on the Plataclay Mine, on Coyote Road in Apple Valley, where they found the body of a 50-year-old man who detectives believe was shot to death, the sheriff’s office stated. Clinger told police he shot the victim after getting into an altercation with him, the sheriff’s office stated.
The victim was identified in a Washington County Jail booking report as Todd Stratton, the owner of the property.
Clinger claimed that Stratton would show up at his house every few months and argue with him about maintaining the property, the report stated.
“Jason stated at one point during the argument Todd ‘hit’ him in the chest. Jason leaned forward in his seat as if to show me how he reacted to the hit. He said as he looked up he saw Todd was about to hit him in the face. Jason stated he turned and the punch skimmed his eye,” the detective wrote in his report.
At that point, Clinger said he walked back toward his house.
“He said he does not recall retrieving the shotgun. Jason said he remembers being ‘surprised when the shotgun went off.’ He said he remembers walking toward Todd and Todd turning away from him and the shotgun being fired,” according to the report.
Clinger said he was then standing over Stratton who grabbed the barrel of his shotgun. Clinger said he then “hit Todd in the head with the barrel of the shotgun” and fired a second round from the shotgun, the report states.
“Jason said Todd said something to the effect of ‘Let me live’ after he was shot. Jason stated Todd was not breathing and he could not find a pulse,” the report continued. “Jason went on to say he ‘did not have justification for self-defense.’”
The woman who was with Clinger, who is the one believed to have called 911, told police that after they determined Stratton was “beyond help, they went into the residence and a conversation about ‘what their options were.’ (She) stated one of the options Jason suggested was to flee the area. (She) stated she told him they would get caught.”