Richard Saettele

Introduction

Richard Scott Saettele, 40, of Foley, Missouri, is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree domestic assault, and two counts of armed criminal action in connection with the death of his father, 63-year-old Michael Saettele, whose remains were found buried beneath construction debris in a shed on the family property in October 2026. He is being held at the Lincoln County Jail without bond, and investigators say he told them he stabbed his father in the eye with a screwdriver during an argument, then — saying he wanted to end his father’s suffering — read him his “last rites” and killed him with a kitchen cleaver. He has not been reported as entering a plea, and every charge against him is an accusation.

Background Information

Michael Saettele, 63, was last seen on August 15, 2026, near Kings Lake Road in Foley, a small town in Lincoln County, Missouri. His cellphone and vehicle remained at his residence, and his direction of travel was unknown. The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office began investigating the disappearance on October 18, treating the circumstances as suspicious; “We’re pulling together electronic information, cell phones, cameras in the area, trying to eliminate or draw connections to where we might be able to find him,” Sheriff Rick Harrell said. The office’s response drew assistance from a wide network of agencies, including the Lincoln County Coroner’s Office, St. Charles County crime scene and laboratory units, the St. Charles County SWAT team, St. Louis-area police departments, a cyber crimes task force, and fire department search-and-rescue K9 teams.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Arrested and charged; no adjudicated outcome. Saettele faces first-degree murder, first-degree domestic assault, and two counts of armed criminal action. He has not been reported as entering a plea, has made no public statement beyond his statements to detectives recorded in court filings, and every charge against him is an accusation; he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

The break in the investigation came from a witness. On the evening of October 23, Richard Saettele telephoned a witness and disclosed that he had stabbed his father with a screwdriver, read him his last rites, and buried him beneath construction debris; the witness reported the call to the sheriff’s office the following day, and Saettele provided a location on the Foley property. On October 24, detectives brought two cadaver-detection dogs to the property, and both independently alerted to an attached lean-to shed; underneath a pile of construction debris and fiberglass insulation covering part of the dirt floor, investigators found Michael Saettele’s remains. Saettele was located and arrested the same night.

After being advised of his rights, Saettele agreed to give a statement, according to the Probable Cause Statement reported by the New York Post and covered locally by FOX 2 and Lincoln CountyWatch. He described an argument with his father roughly ten feet outside the residence’s rear sliding-glass door, in which Michael allegedly attempted to throw a flathead screwdriver at him; Saettele said he took control of the tool and stabbed his father in the eye. The force of the stabbing pushed Michael backward to the ground, where he cried out to his son, “Ricky, this is not the way,” according to police. Saettele told investigators the screwdriver was “stuck” and would not come out, and said that during roughly five minutes of suffering his father made “deeply moving statements” before the two recited the “Lord’s Prayer” together.

Rather than call 911, Saettele said he believed the best thing to do was to end his father’s suffering. Per the probable cause account, he retrieved a cleaver from the kitchen — admitting he knowingly grabbed the 9-inch butcher blade to kill his father — read his father’s “last rites,” and plunged the blade into his heart, breaking the handle in the process before finishing the rites afterward. He told police he then dragged his father’s body approximately 20 feet, dumped it into a one-foot-deep hole he had dug with a military shovel, and initially covered it with dirt; when the corpse began producing a foul smell a couple of days later, he covered it with multiple “blankets” of insulation. Saettele told police the killing happened sometime in mid to late September, without giving an exact date — though his father was last seen on August 15. Prosecutors are questioning whether Michael Saettele could have survived the initial screwdriver stabbing; “The medical examiner is going to have to take a look at the body and make any type of determination whether or not that was going to be a fatal wound,” Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Wood said. “Partly, whether or not the wound was fatal itself was whether or not you were able to seek treatment in a timely fashion.”

Public Reaction and Consequences

The charges were announced as the discovery circulated locally: the sheriff’s office, which had released a public missing-person notice asking for help locating Michael only after the information could be verified, thanked community members who shared the notice and provided information. At the time of the first local reports, authorities had not released Michael’s cause of death or the evidence leading investigators to his son, and the sheriff’s office said the investigation remained ongoing. The story drew national attention after the New York Post covered the probable-cause account on October 28, 2026, describing the last-rites and burial details in Saettele’s own statements to police. Lincoln CountyWatch noted in its coverage that Richard Saettele is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

Current Status

Saettele is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree domestic assault, and two counts of armed criminal action — the murder and domestic assault counts both Class A felonies — and is being held at the Lincoln County Jail without bond. He made an initial court appearance on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, and his next court hearing is scheduled for November 3. The medical examiner’s determination on whether the initial screwdriver wound would have been fatal remains pending, and no plea has been reported. The sheriff’s office investigation remains active.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Saettele, 40, faces the most severe exposure Missouri law provides: a person convicted of first-degree murder faces either death or life in prison without eligibility for probation or parole. An armed-criminal-action conviction carries a prison term generally served consecutively to the sentence for the underlying crime. No occupation, employer, or professional history for Saettele has been reported in the coverage; the public record of the case so far consists of the charges, his statements to detectives as recorded in the probable cause filing, and his custody status pending the November 3 hearing.

Sources

New York Post, “Missouri son Richard Saettele read his dad last rites knifing him in heart burying him in shallow grave,” Oct. 28, 2026 — source
FOX 2 (KTVI), “Man read father last rites before killing him, records say,” Oct. 26, 2026 — source
Lincoln CountyWatch, “Son Accused of Killing Father, Concealing His Body Beneath Foley Shed,” Oct. 2026 — source
Lincoln CountyWatch, “Son Charged With Murder After Missing Foley Man Found Buried on Property,” Oct. 2026 — source
Hoodline, “Richard Scott Saettele Charged With Murder in Father’s Death,” Oct. 2026 — source
@nypost on X, “Son read dad last rites before knifing him in the heart, burying him in shallow grave behind home,” Oct. 28, 2026 — source