EMINENCE, Mo. — Three Missouri men have been arrested and charged with second-degree murder in connection with the 2018 death of 20-year-old Robbie Crites, whose drowning in the Jacks Fork River was initially ruled accidental but reopened after one suspect allegedly confessed to multiple witnesses.
Zachary Watson, Ronald Brawley III, and Austin Womack now face murder charges nearly seven years after Crites died on June 16, 2018, along the river in this small Ozark resort town located 130 miles east of Springfield. The Shannon County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrests Thursday following an extensive reinvestigation that began in early 2025, revealing new evidence that contradicted the original accidental drowning ruling and supporting the victim’s family’s long-held suspicions about the circumstances of his death.
The breakthrough in the cold case came when multiple witnesses reported that Womack had repeatedly confessed to killing Crites in the weeks following his death, according to probable cause statements obtained by local media. One witness told investigators they confronted Womack about three weeks after Crites died while he was walking with a 12-pack of beer. “Yeah, I killed that motherf—, he owed me money for dope,” Womack allegedly responded before continuing to walk away. The witness said Womack appeared casual about the admission and showed no remorse for his actions.
Additional witnesses described a more detailed confession at a bonfire in nearby Winona, where Womack allegedly described the attack in graphic detail to multiple people. According to the charging documents, Womack admitted to confronting Crites with his own fishing pole, hitting him with it, then punching and kicking the victim before stabbing him with a fishing hook and dragging it across his torso. Womack allegedly told the group he then kicked Crites into the river water. Other attendees at the bonfire confirmed hearing these admissions and told law enforcement that others had been wrongly suspected of the crime over the years, authorities said.
The original investigation in 2018 had ruled Crites’ death an accidental drowning, but his family never accepted that conclusion and continued advocating for justice. “I will not give up, I will not give up on Robbie,” Crites’ mother told Springfield-based NBC affiliate KYTV in 2020. “Somehow, some way, I’ll get justice for my son.” The family’s persistence appears to have played a role in law enforcement’s decision to reopen the case. Shannon County Sheriff Steven Hogan said in a statement that investigators “refused to let this case remain closed when the facts did not add up.”
Court documents allege that Watson acted “in concert with another person or persons” to attack Crites and bind him with fishing line before depositing his body in the river. Multiple witnesses placed Watson near the river on the day of Crites’ death, with several saying they saw him there with another man. Prosecutors have not detailed Brawley’s specific alleged role in the killing, but all three defendants are being held at the Shannon County jail on identical charges. The sheriff’s office said the reinvestigation involved reviewing original evidence, interviewing new witnesses, and examining circumstances that had previously been overlooked or dismissed.
Eminence, with a population of just over 600 people, sits along the Current and Jacks Fork Rivers in the Missouri Ozarks and draws thousands of visitors annually for canoeing, fishing, and camping. The Jacks Fork River, where Crites died, flows through the Ozark National Scenic Riverways and is popular with tourists and locals alike. Sheriff Hogan emphasized that his office remains committed to seeking justice “no matter how much time has passed” and urged anyone with additional information about Crites’ death to come forward. “A child’s life was taken, and for seven and a half years the truth sat buried,” Hogan said. “That ends today.”
All three defendants are being held on $250,000 cash-only bond as the case moves through the court system. The Shannon County Sheriff’s Office has not released information about when the men might appear in court or whether they have retained legal representation. Investigators continue to ask for public assistance, stating that even small details could be important to building their case. The arrests represent a significant development for Crites’ family, who spent years pushing for authorities to take another look at the circumstances surrounding their son’s death in what they believed was not a simple drowning accident.
