In The Box with David Millsap: Premieres with Captain Casey Pitts

Lebanon Now launches a new series, In The Box with David Millsap. The premiere sits down with Captain Casey Pitts of the Laclede County Sheriff’s Department for a direct, personal look at the work behind major investigations and the people they impact.

Captain Pitts has served this community for nearly two decades. She was the first female officer in Laclede County promoted to lieutenant and later chief deputy, and since 2017 she has led major investigations for the Sheriff’s Office. In 2019, she was named Missouri’s Investigator of the Year.

Host David Millsap sets the stage: “She is a rock star.” He recalls other sheriffs asking, “I need a Casey,” after watching her connect the dots in tough cases—child abuse, property crimes, and homicides.

Pitts is plain about how it started. “I realized I was naturally nosy anyway,” she says. “I just really liked figuring things out… it became easier and easier for me to put things together and just figure it out.”

Growing up in Conway, law enforcement wasn’t the plan. “I actually got in a lot of trouble when I was a kid,” she says. “Someone told me they didn’t think I could make it through the academy. That really lit a fire under me.”

Serving papers and backing up patrol opened her eyes to what most people never see. “It was very sad. Very eye opening,” Pitts says of early encounters with domestic violence and child sex crimes. That work sharpened her focus: victims first, evidence tight, timelines clean.

Her approach with victims is intentional. “I keep really close contact with guardians,” she explains. “They notice changes I wouldn’t. You have to depend on them for that information. It helps you see the whole picture.”

The episode turns personal. In 2020, her family was hit by a homicide while she was nine months pregnant. “Suddenly I was on the other side,” she says. “Someone specifically has to be assigned to talk to the family… It’s very important that they know we’re working on it.”

Millsap and Pitts revisit the five-month Nathan Young homicide investigation. It was relentless—hundreds of interviews, digital forensics, and a wall-to-wall timeline. “It took months and months,” Pitts says. “I’d still be up working all night long, putting stuff together. Once you get it all lined out, it paints a nice picture.”

Patience and thoroughness are the rule. As Millsap notes, you can’t always have “fast” and “thorough” at the same time. Pitts agrees. “There’s a lot you have to do to make it a good case,” she says. “A solid timeline helps the family understand, helps the prosecutor, and shows patterns when stories don’t line up.”

The work stretches beyond homicides. Pitts details a long-running child abuse case involving more than 20 victims. Exhausting, but decisive evidence mattered. “I almost didn’t go because I was exhausted,” she says of one crucial search. “We found what we needed. Past me took care of future me.”

Looking ahead, Pitts is pushing for advanced training at the National Forensics Academy in Tennessee. “If we know better, we do better,” she says. “I want to bring that education back here so nothing gets overlooked. This is my community. My kids go to school here. My family is here.”

In The Box pulls the curtain back on the real process: interviews, data, timelines, and the human cost. It’s also about the standard this community deserves—cases worked right, victims heard, and evidence that holds.

The premiere episode with Captain Casey Pitts is now streaming on Lebanon Now.