Police Locate Driver Who Struck Town and Country Deer

The deer was found by Town and Country residents the morning of Jan. 18 in the 2500 block of Town and County Lane. There was concern by neighbors initially that the deer, which did display a head wound, was shot. Police officers who responded to the call also told residents the deer may have been shot.

However, a Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) autopsy showed the deer died from impact with a vehicle and did not have gunshot wound. According to Town and Country Police Captain Gary Hoelzer, the report showed the deer had an abrasion on it's head, which is what others determined was a gunshot wound. It had a fractured skull and broken ribs. The broken ribs punctured the lungs, spleen and liver.

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Town and Country resident Dorothy Cooke previously told Patch she and other residents still weren't sure the deer had actually been struck by a car, even after the autopsy.

Hera Gerber, who serves on the city's Conservation Commission, told Patch she shared that concern

"Two or three police officers said that day that they thought it was a gunshot," Gerber tells Patch. 

However, Hoelzer now tells Patch that media reports on the dead deer alerted the driver who struck the deer to the issue within the community. Hoelzer said he received a phone call from a trustee of the Town and Country Lane neighborhood where the deer was found. The trustee told Hoelzer the driver who struck the deer was visiting his home when he struck the deer.

"I spoke to a trustee ... and he identified the man who actually struck the deer with his vehicle, confirming our assumptions based on the MDC necropsy results. This should remove ALL doubt as to the cause of death of the deer," Hoelzer stated to Patch in an email.

Hoelzer also tells Patch he is contacting residents in the area asking them to alert police if they see any suspicious behavior that they believe may be poachers or if they hear gunshots. 

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