Murder and Homicide

The Un-Exonerated: Documentary frees the West Memphis Three

Homicide: Danielle Mack-Jones, 27, Allegedly Stabs St. Louis County Man, Steals Two TVs

Danielle Mack-Jones, a 27-year-old St. Louis County resident, is accused of stabbing to death a neighbor in her apartment complex -- and then stealing two televisions. Police announced today that she had officially been issued warrants, a major step in their investigation into a Christmas Eve homici ... More >>

Map Confirms Murder Concentration; City Urges a Look on the Bright Side

Inspired by last week's New York Times piece, "A Chicago Divided by Killings," Alex Ihnen over at the urban affairs blog NextSTL has produced a map showing where homicides occurred in the city of St. Louis from 2005 to 2012. The map confirms empirically what is already known anecdotally: That murder ... More >>

Thirty years after a white minister's son was beaten to death in the Central West End, one black man remains in prison. But there's plenty of guilt to go around.

Five More St. Louis Homicides Prompted By Food (Cheetos Murder Not Included)

It seems so senseless, it's almost unbelievable. According to the St. Louis police department, a man was stabbed to death Tuesday night in an argument over a bag of Cheetos. Unfortunately, though, this week's incident only adds to a list of food fights turned deadly in St. Louis. Culling our news ar ... More >>

UPDATE: Woman, Three Children Found Dead Outside Home Near DeSoto

A 32-year-old woman and her three daughters, ages 11, 10, and 1, were found shot to death outside a home at Vineland Road and Wilson Hollow Road near DeSoto after midnight Wednesday. [UPDATE 9:42 a.m.: Jefferson County Sheriff's Department held a press conference earlier this morning. They've c ... More >>

Jeremy and Jared Bowers Charged with the Murder of Destinee Clemons

Two brothers have been charged with the murder of University City teenager Destinee Clemons. Clemons, 17, was shot while on her porch with six other family members on the night of June 21 in the 6500 block of Plymouth Avenue in University City.Jeremy Bowers, 20, and Jared Bowers, 19, both of the 700 ... More >>

Keith Esters and Jonathan Perkins Charged with Murder of Megan Boken

Keith Esters, 18, and Jonathan Perkins, 18, have been charged with the murder of Megan Boken. According to the probable cause statement, Esters' girlfriend told police that he  made plans with his cousin, Jonathan Perkins, to commit a robbery in the Central West End on Saturday. Perkins then dr ... More >>

St. Louis Homicide No. 81: Unidentified Man Found Dead in Walnut Park East

An unidentified man has been declared a homicide victim after being found shot to death in a yard in the 4500 block of Davison Avenue Sunday evening. His body was discovered at 5 p.m. Police say the man appeared to be in his early 30s, but have released no further information. The investigation is o ... More >>

Police Say Megan Boken Was Killed During Attempted Robbery

Police are now investigating the murder of former SLU volleyball player Megan Boken as an attempted robbery. They have no evidence that Boken knew her killer, and that it now appears that nothing was stolen from her person or her car. Boken was shot while sitting in her car near the intersection of ... More >>

Ernest Maxwell Sr.: North County Man Accused of Killing His Son

​A father stands accused of murdering his grown son this week in north St. Louis County. Police say they responded to a home in the 200 block of Northport Hills (near Interstate 270 and West Florissant Road) Tuesday afternoon to find   23-year-old Ernest Maxwell Jr., bleeding from a g ... More >>

Suspect Charged for Slitting Throat of Four-Year-Old Child in the Ozarks

​The gruesome killing of a little boy in Wright County led authorities to charge a 22-year-old Hartville man with first-degree murder in what could foreshadow a death-penalty case, reports News Channel KY3. According to the report, authorities allege that Terry Joe "T.J." Volner slit the thro ... More >>

Cortez Buford: Arrested In Murder of Antrelo Lampkin

​The St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office has charged 26-year-old Cortez Buford with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the slaying of Antrelo Lampkin last Tuesday. Lampkin, 39, was gunned down after a late-night argument November 1 in the 8000 block of Church Road by a man police des ... More >>

Daryl Lamont White: Authorites Hope to Solve Cold Case Murder of St. Louis Teen

Daryl Lamont White​Friday will mark the four-year anniversary of the murder of 19-year-old Daryl Lamont White. White, of the 1400 block of Hamilton, was gunned down October 14, 2007, in the 4600 block of Labadie. He'd been shot numerous times by the time St. Louis police arrived on the scene aroun ... More >>

Two St. Louis Teens Charged in July Murder

Michael J. Ford (left) and Antoine Barton were charged last week with murder and armed criminal action.​Two months after the fact, authorities believe they've finally cracked the murder of 22-year-old Calvin Ross. Ross was found July 6 shot to death in an alley in north St. Louis.

Angela Halliday was a junkie. Does that make her a murderer?

Guns Claim Two More Children in St. Louis Region

"From an infant's cold, dead hands!"​A ten-year-old Belleville boy accidentally shot and killed his five-year-old brother yesterday while playing with a shotgun kept in the home. An "extremely tragic accident" is how Belleville police chief William Clay described the incident. A day earlier -- Tu ... More >>

Alyssa Bustamante: Prosecutors Can't Use Part of Killer Teen's Confession

Alyssa Bustamante: The jury may not hear some of her most chilling statements to police.​Alyssa Bustamante, the then-15-year-old Missouri kid who allegedly strangled and stabbed her nine-year-old neighbor to death in 2009, told police she'd committed the crime because she "wanted to know what it f ... More >>

Reginald Booker: St. Louis Homicide No. 59; Shot Along With Another Man

​A 31-year-old man was found dead over night in north St. Louis. Next to him was another victim, critically wounded by gunfire. St. Louis police say they were called around midnight today to the scene in the 8800 block of Lowell near the intersection of Riverview and Hall streets. There they found ... More >>

True Crime Archive: St. Louis Murderer Dipped Fried Chicken in Victim's Blood, Ate It

According to the Missouri Department of Corrections, Elroy Preston is known in prison as the "Chicken Man." ​We hadn't heard about it, either. That is, until yesterday when we were thumbing through the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's spring newsletter. This issue of the newsletter is mostly about str ... More >>

Rickey Bates: St. Louis Teen Charged With Murder of Antwoine Shaw

Rickey Bates lives just two blocks from the scene of the crime.​St. Louis prosecutors on Sunday charged 18-year-old Ricky L. Bates of St. Louis with the murder of Antwoine Shaw. Shaw, 35, was found shot to death behind the wheel of a running Chevrolet Monte Carlo on March 4. The murder occurred ... More >>

Three Teens Arrested in Murder of Patrice Thimes, Woman Killed in Crossfire

facebook.comPatrice Thimes​St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce yesterday announced that three teenagers have been charged with the death of Patrice Thimes. The 39-year-old mother of two was driving down Page Avenue last Thursday when her Lexus SUV drove through gunfire near the intersection ... More >>

St. Louis: Ten Worst Crimes of 2010 Inside "America's Most Dangerous City"

St. Louis once again topped the list as the nation's "Most Dangerous Cities" in 2010. Here, then, is a look at ten of the most-heinous crimes (ranked from bad to worse) occurring in and near the city within the past 12 months. John Thornton​10. The Murder of a MayorJohn Thornton was on his way hom ... More >>

St. Louis: Crime Drops in "America's Most Dangerous City"

​Weeks after St. Louis was named "America's Most Dangerous City" based on crime statistics from 2009, an FBI report for the first half of 2010 shows that crime in the city is down from a year ago. Mirroring a national drop in crime, St. Louis saw a 23 percent drop in violent crimes, including rape ... More >>

Raymond Jackson: St. Louis Homicide No. 130; Found Shot in Car

Another day, another Florissant man found murdered in a vehicle in St. Louis. St. Louis police report finding Raymond Allen Jackson, 41, shot to death in the driver's seat of his car. The murder occurred around 7:45 p.m. yesterday in the 1200 block of Amherst (below) near Skinker and Page.​Police ... More >>

More on Tom and Beth Boggs -- Attorneys Targeted in South City Bombing

​Investigators don't know if a bombing Friday of a home near Carondelet Park could be tied to a 2006 murder, though they're not ruling it out. Two pipe bombs blew up shortly after 1 a.m. October 1 outside the home of Tom and Beth Boggs, the husband and wife law partners that operate the Clayton-ba ... More >>

Rahmel McNeil: St. Louis Homicide No. 91; Teen Shot Dead in Vandeventer Neighborhood

Seventeen-year-old Rahmel McNeil was shot dead in broad daylight Friday around 1:19 p.m. in the Vandeventer Neighborhood of north St. Louis. ​According to accounts, McNeil was part of an argument involving two groups of teenagers and young men in the 4000 block of West Belle Place (above). McNeil ... More >>

Darryl Burton: Wrongfully Convicted Ex-Prisoner Sues St. Louis, Police Board

Photo: Jennifer SilverbergDarryl Burton photographed last year.​Updated 4:06 p.m. with comments from Burton's attorney.Darryl Burton served 24 years in prison for a St. Louis murder he didn't commit. In 2008, Cole County Judge Richard Callahan (now the U.S. Attorney for Eastern Missouri) released ... More >>

Louis Baker: St. Louis Homicide No. 77; Shot to Death at Labadie and Vandeventer

St. Louis police have identified the man gunned down at the corner of Labadie and Vandeventer (below) in north city Friday. ​Louis Baker, 32, of the 4200 block of Sacramento Avenue, was pronounced dead at the scene around 7:30 p.m. August 27. Baker had been shot several times in the head and torso ... More >>

Woman Accused of Murdering Husband: "We Didn't Always Get Along"

image viaErick Shepheard​Cindy Shepheard, a Belleville woman who is on trial for the murder of her husband Erick Shepheard, definitely has a gift for understatement. "We didn't always get along. That was no secret," she told the jury yesterday. "One minute we're arguing. I have to pack my bag ... More >>

Suspect Charged for Murder of Tommy Jones in Hillsdale Early Monday Morning

Image viaThe homicide happened on the 2100 block of Crescent. ​Police say they've arrested 37-year-old Alvertis Harper for murdering Tommy Jones, 34, early Monday. The fatal shot was fired around 2 a.m. yesterday in the 2100 block of Crescent, just outside the city limits in Hillsdale. Harper is n ... More >>

Kevin Johnson: East St. Louis Homicide No. 16; Killed Early Monday Morning

Johnson was found outside this building on N. 51st Street.​East St. Louis police have identified the man shot dead early Monday morning as 34-year-old Kevin Johnson. Johnson, of the 1700 block of Belmont Avenue in East St. Louis, was found dead outside a building at 742 N. 51st Street around 1:10 ... More >>

Brian Brooks: St. Louis County Homicide No. 12; Shot Following Son's Arrest in Pine Lawn

Yesterday's homicides occurred within two blocks of each other and appear related.​The first murder in Pine Lawn occurred yesterday around 9:30 a.m. in the 4200 block of Ravenwood. That's where police discovered a man in his 20s, shot execution style with a bullet to the brain. Police arrested a 1 ... More >>

Missouri Attorney General Calls for Execution of Man Linked to Larry Flynt Shooting

Larry Flynt has been in a wheelchair since the 1978 shooting.​Attorney General Chris Koster yesterday called on the Missouri Supreme Court to set execution dates for two convicted murderers. The first, Joseph Franklin, was convicted in 1997 for the shooting death twenty years earlier of a man out ... More >>

The Big Bloody: In What's Becoming a Redundant Headline -- Man Found Shot to Death in North City

Mario Williams, 29, was found shot to death last night in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood of north St. Louis. Police discovered Williams body around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday in the 3800 block of Kennerly. View Larger MapWilliams, of the 6100 block of Bermuda in Normandy, had been shot multiple times and w ... More >>

Police Seek Help in Search for Man Suspected in Eat-Rite Murder

D'Angelo Tate​St. Louis police are asking the public for assistance in trying to track down D'Angelo Tate. Police describe Tate as a "person of interest" in the brutal slaying of Shevette Chambers on August 16 outside the popular Eat Rite Diner near Busch Stadium. This is not the first time Tate h ... More >>

The Big Bloody: Three People Found Murdered in Their Homes Blocks Apart in North City

Two phone calls to the St. Louis police led to the discovery of three bodies Sunday night in the Baden Neighborhood. View Sunday Night Homicides, June 19, 2009 in a larger mapPolice report receiving a phone call yesterday from a relative asking them to check on the well-being of two people living in ... More >>

Attorney General Wants Racist Executed for Murders; Fashion Police Want Him for Hitler Haircut

Joseph Franklin rockin the Hitler haircut.Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster today called for the Missouri Supreme Court to set an execution date for Joseph Franklin. Franklin was convicted in 1997 of murdering Gerald Gordon -- twenty years after he shot and killed him in the parking lot of a St ... More >>

The Big Bloody: Police Fingerprint Father of Strangled Family

Christopher ColemanLast week Christopher Coleman hired defense attorney William Margulis to represent him in the investigation into the strangulation death of his wife, Sheri, 31, and sons Garett, 11, and Gavin, 9, at their Columbia, Illinois, home on May 5. Yesterday Coleman and his lawyer arrived ... More >>

Conversation with the Chief: Dan Isom Discusses Towing Scandals, Gun Laws, Cops and Robbers

This morning St. Louis Metropolitan Police Chief Dan Isom invited a few reporters to meet with him to discuss his first few months on the job -- as well as anything else we wanted to talk about. I, for one, appreciate the chief's openness. Such an invite would be anathema to some of his predecessors ... More >>

Who Killed Robert Walker?: Court testimony offers hints to an unsolved murder

Battle Lines

Gangs keep their murderous hold on the streets of St. Louis. And kids like Lil' Robert Walker pay the price.

Dead Reckoning

It's been six months since John Mullen was served up an arsenic cocktail. So whodunit?

The Case That Haunts

The most notorious cold case in the history of the St. Louis Police Department still haunts homicide detectives

Not Guilty

HotCity Theatre debuts with a polemic -- and how!

Whack Job

Frank Brown was butchered in 1996. His killer still hasn't paid the price.

See No Evil

Denise Wolff was gunned down in front of her home in a quiet South St. Louis neighborhood. Police thought they had the killer until their star witness wrecked the case.

Pop Fiction

Popcorn takes on the topic of Hollywood violence in a hilarious but none-too-gentle way

The Benetton Four

Meet the men who sparked a lawsuit

FORWARD BY UNPOPULAR DEMAND

Dodson murder case is one for the middle of the road