Joplin man pleads guilty to murdering his son's girlfriend

(From the Newton County Prosecuting Attorney's Office)

A Joplin man has entered a plea of guilty in Newton County Circuit Court to the 2009 murder of his son's longtime girlfriend.

Rickey Lee Lamb, 63, of Joplin, Missouri entered the plea in front of Judge Kevin Selby of the 40th Judicial Circuit on Thursday, April 15, 2021, to one count of murder in the second degree. Additional counts of domestic assault first and armed criminal action were dismissed.

On June 17, 2019, Rickey Lamb went to the residence of his son and his son's girlfriend Sarah Tyminski on Eloise Lane just south of Joplin.

According to the defendant's own statements included in the probable cause document filed with he case, Lamb went to the residence to scare his son over a custody dispute over his son's children.

At the residence, a firefight ensued and Rickey Lamb admitted to shooting Sarah Tyminski, telling detectives he believed she was trying to get a weapon. Sarah Tyminski was pronounced dead at the scene by EMTs.

"This plea will offer closure  and some amount of justice to the family of Sarah Tyminski," said Newton County Prosecuting Attorney William Lynch.

"The decision to proceed as we have is not one I take lightly. After full discovery was completed in this caase, considering the availability of some witnesses and the risk associated with a jury trial,  this is a just and certain outcome."

Lynch stated that the defendant taking responsibility for his actions and the plea limiting the scope of the defendant's appeals were important factors in his decision.

A sentencing hearing is set for June 17, 2021. At that hearing, the state and defense will have the opportunity to make argument as to what sentence the defendant should receive. The range of sentencing for the A felony of murder in the second degree is 10 to 30 years, or life, in the Missouri Department of Corrections. No plea agreement was made limiting the range of punishment the judge can consider.

The case was investigated by the Newton County Sheriff's Office and prosecuted by William Lynch, J. D. Hatcher and Sarah Crites of the Newton County Prosecutor's Office.