Justice After 27 Years: 3 Brothers Arrested For Justin Hocutt Murder

In 1999, 14-year-old Justin Hocutt was last seen alive at a nearby home in Seligman, Missouri. Roughly 22 hours later, his body was found on railroad tracks near his home. A train had struck him, but investigators eventually came to believe Justin’s death was not simply a railroad accident. Witness statements placed several people connected to the nearby household under scrutiny during the original investigation. But no one was charged with Justin’s murder. Over the next two decades, investigators repeatedly returned to the case. A multi-agency task force revisited the evidence. More interviews followed. Years later, a new investigative team began rebuilding the case almost from the beginning — reviewing old reports, locating witnesses again and reconsidering evidence that had been sitting in the file for decades. The modern prosecution alleges Justin was assaulted at the Seligman residence and later placed on the railroad tracks. Investigators also revisited the autopsy and developed a different interpretation of whether Justin was still alive when the train struck him. In July 2026, Mark Wesley Scott, Bobby Ray Scott and David Ray Scott were each charged with first-degree murder. What made the arrests especially significant was that authorities said the three brothers were not newly discovered suspects. Their names had already appeared in the investigation years earlier. This Root of Crime documentary follows Justin Hocutt’s final known hours, the railroad-track discovery, the original investigation, the witnesses who were difficult to reach, repeated attempts to reopen the case, and the 2025–2026 reinvestigation that finally led to murder charges 27 years later. The three men remain defendants. No conviction has been verified in Justin Hocutt’s case. #JustinHocutt #ColdCase #RootOfCrime