LINCOLN COUNTY, Mo — 38-year-old Jeffery W. Holden is now wanted. Call the police if you see him. The Lincoln County Prosecutor says he’s violated probation for a 2017 crash that took the life of 18-year-old Nicholas Spencer.
Nick’s mother, Carrie Knight, has been relentless in protecting others. She said, “…saving somebody else from the heartbreak that we’ve had to go through.”
Her son had just graduated from Bowling Green High School and was about to enlist in the Marines. Knight added, “He had a whole bright future in front of him.”
Court documents say suspect Holden tested positive for both alcohol and cannabis after the crash and that his car’s black box revealed he was speeding 84 miles per hour in a 55-mph zone.
Knight said, “We didn’t do a jury trial just because we agreed to the plea agreement and agreed he would be on supervised probation. Even the prosecutor at the time said, If he has any violations, which we know he will, he’ll be sent back for his 12-year back-up.”
He could have escaped that prison sentence if he could stay out of trouble, yet court records show Holden’s continued citations in not only Lincoln County but also Montgomery and St. Charles Counties for speeding, running a red light, not having license plates, and having no insurance. One ticket says, “(Holden) stated he was not required to have insurance.”
Knight commented, “I just don’t understand why he’s allowed to keep driving.”
We took Knight’s concerns to Lincoln County Prosecutor Mike Wood, who told us, “Normally a speeding ticket or some type of license violation, in and of itself, wouldn’t be enough to revoke somebody’s probation.”
However, as we continued tracking Holden’s citations, something happened that did allow Wood to get involved: a municipal arrest warrant for speeding and no insurance. The warrant did not get sent as an alert to Wood’s office, but Fox 2 found it in a court check and notified him.
Wood said, “That actually was the alert—getting the media inquiry from (you) Chris Hayes at Channel 2—is what put it on our radar. We did the research to check on CaseNet to see where we stood, and we did have information from the City of Old Monroe that there were warrants out for his arrest. We were also able to confirm that he was not reporting to the office of probation and parole.”
Wood continued, “We filed a motion to revoke, and we asked the court to issue a warrant for his arrest (on the manslaughter case). If the public does know where he is located, certainly contact the sheriff’s office.”
We made the trip up to Louisiana, MO, to visit the address listed on all of Holden’s tickets. Parked nearby, we found the tan Ford Ranger listed in Holden’s most recent tickets, with the license plate to match. We knocked on his apartment door. There was no answer.
Though he’s not yet in custody, we knew Nick’s mom would be pleased to hear prosecutors now want to hold him accountable. We broke the news to her.
“Awesome,” Knight said. “Oh my goodness, that’s amazing—good. Justice.”
She continued, “People should be held accountable for their actions. He killed my son, who was only 18. he had his whole life in front of him.”