St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office: Man from Urich arrested on several felony charges



Casey M. Jurdan

 On June 28, St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office deputies assisted the Henry County Sheriff’s Office and the Missouri State Highway Patrol in the apprehension of an individual in Urich wanted on a St. Clair County warrant charging him with several felony counts.

Casey M. Jurdan, 29, Urich, was arrested on a warrant charging him with two class B felony counts of first degree assault and two unclassified felony counts of armed criminal action. The warrant was issued on June 27 and the charge stems from an incident on June 23 when a St. Clair County deputy was dispatched to two calls on NW 1101 Road, Appleton City. The first call was regarding suspicious activity and the second call was in reference to a man being assaulted with a hammer.

Information was received a vehicle checking to Jurdan pulled into a driveway and when the property owners spoke to the man, he left. Later the same evening, a deputy took a report from Jason Smith in reference to being assaulted with a hammer. Smith reported a vehicle pulled into his driveway and drove to his shed area. He went out to find out who was there. The man driving, later identified as Jurdan, stated he was looking for a female individual. Smith explained he never heard of her and she did not live around there and Jurdan drove away. 

Smith stated he walked to check his shed for anything missing and as he headed to the house, Jurdan drove up and asked for a drink.  Jurdan was given a bottle of Gatorade and attempted to force his way past Smith and get into the residence.  Smith said he pushed Jurdan out of the door.  After thanking Smith, Jurdan allegedly tossed the Gatorade bottle into the vehicle and grabbed a claw hammer and lunged at him.  Smith was struck on his arms 10 or more times as he was blocking the hammer as Jurdan swung it at his head.

Jurdan allegedly made another attempt to get into the residence and was stopped. Smith stated he took the hammer and struck Jurdan with it. Smith’s wife came out of the residence with a gun and told Jurdan to stop.  He stopped, retrieved his hammer and started back to his vehicle. 

Smith said he took the gun from his wife and walked to the shed. Jurdan backed up as if he was leaving and then suddenly accelerated forward toward Smith. Smith was struck by the vehicle just as it made contact with the side of the shed. Jurdan then circled around in the yard and was headed back in the direction of Smith when Smith fired the gun and Jurdan turned away and went down the driveway. 

Jurdan’s vehicle was located on H Highway in Henry County fully engulfed in fire. Jurdan was not located. A St. Clair County detective went to the scene and took photographs of the vehicle. A hammer was retrieved from the passenger side seat and seized as evidence. Jurdan’s bond is set at $50,000 cash or surety and a court date of Aug. 1 was given in the case.