Missouri Revised Statutes Title XXXV. Civil Procedure and Limitations § 506.180. Proof of service

1. Every officer to whom any writ of process shall be directed and delivered for service shall make return thereof in writing of the time, place and manner of service of such writ, and shall sign his name to such return.

2. If service of such process is, by order of the court, directed to and delivered to a person, other than an officer, for service, such person shall make affidavit as to the time, place and manner of his service thereof.

3. Service by mail shall be proved by a certificate of the clerk that he has mailed a copy of the summons and of the petition as required by law and the order of the court and by the return registered mail receipt mentioned in subsection 2 of section 506.160, which shall be filed as a paper in the particular lawsuit.

4. Service by publication shall be proved by an affidavit showing the dates upon which and the newspaper in which the notice of publication was published. A copy of the notice shall be attached to the affidavit which shall be filed in the cause. The clerk's certificate that he has mailed a copy of the notice to each defendant whose address was stated in the motion for order of publication and the date of the mailing shall likewise be filed.

5. No person shall be arrested, held to bail, or imprisoned, on any mesne process or execution founded upon any civil action whatsoever.