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Columbia Missourian

Body found in truck leads to Missouri standoff

By The Associated Press
December 23, 2009 | 11:38 a.m. CST

LADDONIA — A man wanted for questioning after a body was found in the refrigerated compartment of a tractor-trailer has been cornered by authorities in a house in eastern Missouri.

Audrain County deputies were negotiating Wednesday morning with 38-year-old Chester Harvey Jr.

The sheriff's department said it learned Monday about a possible homicide, and their investigation led them to a tractor-trailer on the east side of Vandalia where they found the body on Tuesday.

Later in the day, officers cornered Harvey in a house in Laddonia, where he's accused of holding four children and his wife hostage.

The department said the wife and three of the hostages have been released, but Harvey's 14-year-old son remained inside the house Wednesday morning.