PECULIAR, Mo. — Court documents say a Cass County homicide suspect told investigators his girlfriend shot herself in the head then threw the gun in a pond before she died in their kitchen.

Authorities aren’t buying it.

Route C is one of the main roads cutting through Peculiar, Missouri, and the home where the deadly shooting happened is hard to miss. But not many people who live nearby know much about the individuals involved.

The rural home is where Cass County authorities discovered the body of 50-year-old Alyssa Jordan, described as the longtime girlfriend of 49-year-old Christopher Marshall.

The woman died from a gunshot to her left cheek, court documents say.

Marshall called 911 at about 1 a.m. Sunday and told dispatchers she “had thrown a gun into a pond after shooting herself,” charging documents say.

The closest pond is about 50 yards away from the house — across a fence on property that neighbor Mike Hedrick owns. He said he saw investigators Sunday morning.

“We were going to town, and we drove by and saw them there, but that was about the extent of it,” Hedrick said.

The Cass County man said he doesn’t know much about Marshall.

“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” Hedrick said. “He bred American pit bulls.”

“I was out here working, and he was in his backyard working, you know? So his state of mind I cannot comment on because I don’t really know,” Hedrick said of his few times seeing the neighbor.

According to court documents, detectives were immediately skeptical of Marshall’s story, saying they “could smell the odor of intoxicants coming from him … also observed the defendant stumbling while walking and having very slurred speech.”

After getting a warrant, investigators quickly found three weapons under a mattress, including one in a holster that detectives suspect was used in the incident.

During a later interview, investigators said Marshall contradicted himself by saying he “called 911 immediately. I took the gun that was right on the floor, and I put it away under our mattress.”

The possible reason for the behavior: He shouldn’t have had the guns as a convicted felon.

He’s since been charged with illegal gun possession and second-degree murder. Marshall is currently being held on a $500,000 bond.