Missouri man accused in family molestation dies

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – One of six men accused of sexually molesting young family members at a western Missouri farm decades ago has died in his sleep in Florida.

Hiers-Baxley Funeral Home in Ocala, Fla., confirmed that 74-year-old Darrel W. Mohler of Silver Springs, Fla., died Wednesday.

Mohler was awaiting trial on two counts of rape stemming from the claims of young relatives that he, his brother and his brother's four sons sexually abused them in the mid-1980s at a farm in Lafayette County.

His trial in Clay County recently was pushed back to May 29.

Lafayette County prosecutor Kellie Wingate Campbell acknowledged Mohler's death but declined to comment. An attorney listed for Mohler in electronic court records did not immediately return a call seeking comment.