As I think about it now, there was nothing with Quintin. It was like talking to a hollow person.
CASEY’S MANAGER RON STONE, recalling Quintin O’dell’s reaction when he was told about Alissa Shippert’s murder.
Some of his co-workers at Casey’s General Store in Platte City all shared one recollection about accused murderer Quintin O’Dell: he was a big talker.
“It seemed like he always had some kind of big plan,” Casey’s manager Ron Stone said. “He was going to go in the military or move somewhere crazy.”
“He always talked big,” Casey’s employee Flo Goodsell said.
Stone, who said O’Dell began working at Casey’s in October 2009, said he never had any issues with him.
“He would sometimes say goofy stuff and I had to write him up for a few minor things, but I never had any problems with him,” he said. “For the most part, he showed up when he was supposed to and did his job.”
Stone said he was shocked when he found out last week that O’Dell had been arrested and charged with the murder of former Casey’s employee Alissa Shippert and the razor blade assault of a Ferrelview woman.
“It has just been horrible,” Stone said. “I feel so bad for Quintin’s family; they are good people.”
Stone said the Ferrelview woman whom O’Dell stands accused of cutting open with a razor blade Dec. 26 was a girlfriend of his nephew. He said that O’Dell, his nephew and the woman had known each other since high school.
“When I found out that Quintin had been down there at (the victim’s) apartment the night before she was hurt, I asked why,” Stone said. “Then I started putting some of the pieces together and thinking about it some more and it made me nervous.”
Stone said that O’Dell and Shippert were friends and they often went fishing together.
“I never would have suspected this of him, none of us would,” he said.
Torie Allen, who has worked at Casey’s for four years, said she and Shippert were “best friends.”
“We both moved to Weston the same year, our birthdays were very close and we worked together every night,” she said. “We had a lot of people come in who would ask us if we were sisters.”
O’Dell also worked nights with the two women, making pizzas.
“He and Alissa and I worked a lot of nights together,” Allen said. “I thought Quintin was kind of weird sometimes, but I treated him like a friend. He has been to my house and has given me rides. We’ve been alone together a lot. I still can’t believe he did what they say he did.”
Goodsell, who has worked at Casey’s for 13 years, said O’Dell was always kind and respectful to her.
“I think he kind of looked at me like a grandparent figure,” she said. “I’ve known him for a long time. I remember him coming to Casey’s when he was little with his grandfather.”
Goodsell said she never had any problems with O’Dell.
“I have nothing bad to say about the boy,” she said. “I don’t have any anger toward him. I guess you can say I hate the sin but not the sinner. I wonder why. I wonder how he went off the deep end. He was a super-intelligent kid.”
Goodsell said one memory that stands out to her about O’Dell concerned his passion for coin collecting.
“He loved to collect coins, so I had a nice silver dollar and I gave it to him,” she said. “He really appreciated it.” Goodsell said looking back that she noticed O’Dell’s work habits had changed in the months since Shippert’s murder last spring.
“He always worked well and did whatever I asked him, but I noticed he started slacking off a little bit the past six months or so,” she said. “It was like he didn’t care.”
To read more, pick up the Jan. 11, 2012 edition of The Citizen.