Mother Who Escaped Wooden Box Found Shot Dead

A woman who says she was locked in a wooden box while her partner went to work has been found shot dead, three weeks after going to police.

Sandra Kay Sutton, 46, was found dead with her son Zachary, 17, at a house in Clinton, Missouri.

A manhunt is underway for Ms Sutton's former boyfriend James Horn Jr, 47, who is suspected of murder and of locking her up in the box.

The bodies were found when family members returned to the house after work, police said.

On 30 April, Ms Sutton told police Horn had routinely locked her in a box in their home in Sedalia, Missouri, over a four-month period.

Horn was later charged with kidnapping, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon but has been at large ever since.

"She was not in protective custody. Several folks have asked that. Why didn't police protect her?" said Clinton Police Lieutenant Sonny Lynch.

"The fact is, we didn't know she was living in our community. And as far as I can tell from checking, she has never even sought an order of protection against James Horn."

The box in which Horn allegedly kept Ms Sutton was 100in long, 45in wide and 52in tall, according to a detective's affidavit.

Ms Sutton told authorities Horn forced her to help him build the box by wielding a long knife.

She was locked in the box when he was not home, released when he got home from work and was forced to have sex with him, authorities said.

Zachary Sutton was a student at Clinton High School, according to a Facebook posting.

The posting said: "We are heartbroken over the tragic and senseless loss of Zach Sutton and his mother. Counselors are available at CHS."

Horn is a registered sex offender because of convictions in Tennessee in 1993, according to Missouri State Highway Patrol online court records.

He was later convicted of kidnapping his estranged wife in Mississippi and served 10 years in federal prison, court records show.