Prater shot a rifle in the air to summon another neighbor, Elmer Taylor. Prater called to Taylor to bring his car because Mr. and Mrs. Starks had been shot. Taylor, along with Mr. and Mrs. Prater and their baby, rode with Mrs. Starks to Michael Meagher Hospital (now Miller County Health Unit) at 503 Walnut Street. Mrs. Starks gave Mr. Taylor, the driver, one of her teeth with a gold filling. She was in a semi-conscious state, slumping forward on the front seat. Although she lost a considerable amount of blood, she showed no signs of going into shock and her heart rate remained normal. Miller County Sheriff W. E. Davis, who became head of the investigation, questioned Mrs. Starks in the operating room. The news was printed on the front page the next morning, Saturday, May 4, reading "MURDER ROCKS CITY AGAIN; FARMER SLAIN, WIFE WOUNDED". Four days later, Sheriff Davis talked with Mrs. Starks again at the hospital. Mrs. Starks discounted a circulating rumor that Virgil had heard a car outside their home several nights in a row and feared of being killed.