Robbery

Photos: 12 Worst St. Louis Crimes, April 2013

In the city of St. Louis, there have been a total of 30 murders reported this year so far and April kicked off with two violent homicides that claimed the lives of local women. In addition to some incidents of particularly violent crime, in the St. Louis metro area, there was also a handful of tru ... More >>

Sentenced: Man Who Shoved Knife into Woman, Stole Her Purse, Threw It in Dumpster

Police say that James Johnson came up behind a woman outside of a St. Louis drugstore, "shoved a knife into her lower back," and said he would kill her if she didn't give him her purse. She fought back -- but he pushed her into her car and ran away with her belongings. He then, according to the Ci ... More >>

Police: Ronald Burns Robs Woman At Gunpoint After She Refuses to Give Her Phone Number

If you can't get a woman's phone number, might as well just try and take her whole phone! That seems to be thinking of 22-year-old Ronald Burns who, according to police documents, entered a St. Louis store on Tuesday and tried to get a woman's number. When she declined, he left the store. But a ... More >>

Pro Tip: If You Rob a Gas Station, Don't Leave Your Keys There

At 8:30 on the morning of New Year's Eve, two crooks used a gun to rob a gas station at the intersection of Bates Street and Virginia Avenue in the Carondelet neighborhood. The robbers made off with cash and checks. However, according to the probable cause statement, one of them left his keys at the ... More >>

Man Cuffed for Three Armed Robberies in 33 Minutes

Sometimes, when criminals go for it, they really go for it. Authorities believe that Darien Babbit -- a 20-year-old from the 3300 block of Greenway Chase Drive -- was one of the two guys behind the brief-but-industrious armed robbery spree that ended downtown Sunday night. According to the probable ... More >>

21-Year-Old Charged With Robbing Two Banks Over the Past Week

Isadore E. Glover, a 21-year-old from the O'Fallon neighborhood, has started out 2013 by getting charged with robbery of not one but TWO different banks -- robberies, by the way, that did not always go smoothly. The first one occurred on Saturday, at the PNC bank at 4323 North Grand Boulevard, accor ... More >>

Terrell Reed, 21, Charged With Robbing Two Women on South Grand

Right around Thanksgiving, two women were robbed just steps away from the South Grand Business District. Today, a young man from the Tower Grove East neighborhood was charged with the crime. Terrell Reed, a 21-year-old from the 3200 block of Arsenal Street, now faces two counts of first-degree robbe ... More >>

Woman Accused of Trying (But Mostly Failing) to Rob Three People With Toy Gun

According to the Madison County Sheriff's Office, at least one of Amy Zielinski's three robbery attempts on December 1 actually succeeded. In that one, the 34-year-old allegedly came into the BP Amoco in Pontoon Beach just after noon on Saturday, showed a "handgun," took some money and left in a red ... More >>

Man Charged with Robbing Domino's Driver While Wearing Spiderman Mask

A North County man is locked up right now on charges that he robbed a Domino's delivery driver on November 9, the St. Louis County Police say.  Yes -- another robbery involving a pizza guy. Is this St. Louis' most dangerous job? Richard D. Whitehead, a 31-year-old from the 300 block of Chalmett ... More >>

Another Newman Charged With Robbing, Shooting Young Woman In Face

Remember those brutal robberies near I-44 and Grand Boulevard where people were giving up their goods but still getting shot - sometimes in the face? Less than two weeks ago, authorities arrested Vincent Newman of Midtown on the belief that he was responsible. Now they now believe one of the inciden ... More >>

Man Arrested for Robbing, Kidnapping Wash U. Student at Knifepoint

A 22-year-old from Downtown West was arrested on Wednesday on charges that he robbed and kidnapped a Washington University student last August. According to St. Louis County Police, William J. Cobbins was the man who approached the 23-year-old female victim as she was getting into to her car in a ca ... More >>

Keith Esters & Johnathan Perkins Charged in Brentwood Kidnapping

Keith Esters and Johnathan Perkins, already charged with murder in the death of former SLU volleyball player Megan Boken, were yesterday charged with armed robbery and felonious restraint for their part in a crime that took place August 12 in Brentwood.In the Brentwood robbery, Esters and Perkins al ... More >>

Terrell Holley Allegedly Skewed the City's Crime Stats with One Busy Night

Terrell Holley, 17, is allegedly one of the hardest-working teens in St. Louis. While most of us the city slept Sunday night, Holley was purportedly committing a one-man crime wave that stretched from downtown to the Central West End to South Hampton and finally ended in Goodfellow Terrace. Holley's ... More >>

Five Women Robbed Outside Busch Stadium Wednesday Night

St. Louis police revealed that an armed robbery occurred at 11 p.m. Wednesday night in the 500 block of South Broadway outside Busch Stadium (above), one that had several similarities to an armed robbery Sunday night in the Central West End. In Wednesday's incident, police say a group of five women ... 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 >>

Man Shot During Hold-Up In Fairground Park

A 24-year-old black man told police he was walking in the back alley of the 3500 block of Natural Bridge Avenue in the Fairground Park neighborhood just before midnight on Monday when a black man approached him. The new arrival announced a robbery, and at least one other man appeared to assist the h ... More >>

Robbery Victim Drives to Police Station While Being Robbed

[UPDATE: How the man arrived at the police station and the chronology of the incident updated with information from the police incident report.]St. Louis Police officers were driving north in the 4000 block of Union, near the North Patrol station, when a car traveling south crossed the center line a ... More >>

Donrico Holmes ID'd by Police as Suspect In Sex Assault on Three Girls

Donrico Holmes, 32, has been charged in connection with the armed robbery and sexual assault of three girls ages 12 to 17 on July 23. Holmes is not in custody at this time, however; police released this mugshot from a prior arrest. At the time of the alleged assault, Holmes had short braids, as seen ... More >>

Scipio Aduke Vaughn: St. Louis Homicide No. 66; Shot During Carr Square Robbery

Scipio Aduke Vaughn, a 33-year-old black man from Centralia, Illinois, was killed during a robbery in the Carr Square neighborhood just after midnight on July 15. According to police,  Vaughn and two other men were driving in Vaughn's car when a gray Dodge Charger pulled up next to them in the ... More >>

Roderick McAllister, Derez Austell Charged with Murder in Connection with Tuesday's Home Invasion

Roderick L. McAllister, 20, and Derez Austell, 19, the two men apprehended in a drainage culvert on Manchester Avenue after Tuesday's home invasion in Dogtown, have been charged with second-degree murder and a host of related charges. Because their alleged compatriot, Brandon Jones, was shot and kil ... More >>

Wash. U is 16th Most Crime-Riddled Campus

According to The Daily Beast, Washington University is a premiere institution for hitting the books or getting hit over the head. Using data from the U.S. Department of Education, the blog used incidents of murder, robbery, assault, burglaries, and car thefts between 2008 and 2010 to populate their ... More >>

US Bank on Southwest Robbed this Morning

Police are investigating a robbery at the US Bank in the 5300 block of Southwest Avenue that happened just after 9:30 a.m. this morning. The suspect, a black man in his 20s with noticeable acne, was wearing a blue shirt, khaki pants and a grey baseball hat. He handed a note to the teller indicating ... More >>

Logo Bandit Believed to Have Hit Two Banks in One Day

​This probably isn't what Nike had in mind in terms of brand advertising. The St. Louis Logo Bandit, whom we've covered before, has continued his now-notorious bank-robbing spree through affluent areas of west St. Louis County. The image-conscious thief, who tends to sport brand-name apparel ... More >>

Lewis Grover: Suspect Charged in Callous Robbery Turned Murder

Lewis Grover​The St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office today filed charges against 26-year-old Lewis Grover in relation to last week's gruesome murder of 63-year-old Willie Perkins. Perkins was shot in the head at point-blank range after a street robbery in north St. Louis. Grover, of the 2900 block ... More >>

Serial Robber on the Loose in St. Louis; Suspect Involved in Nine Incidents This Morning

​St. Louis police are on the lookout for a man involved in nine armed robberies and/or attempted robberies this morning. All the incidents occurred between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. in 1st, 3rd and 9th police districts (highlighted in red to the left). According to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Depart ... More >>

Possible Vampire on the Loose in St. Louis

"I vant...to suck...your wallet!"​Maybe he only read the second part of the sign.This morning, police say a man robbed a blood bank in the 5000 block of Delmar Boulevard. KDSK.com reports that the man, described as a black male in his late teens or early 20s, walked in to the blood bank at around ... More >>

What's Worth More: Food or Cash?

Wikimedia CommonsTime to steal the doughnuts.​Three not-too-bright robbers in Hyannis, Massachusetts, attempted to rob a Dunkin' Donuts last week. They demanded a paper bag an employee was carrying in her purse and ran. Because so many paper bags at Dunkin' Donuts are filled with cash instea ... More >>

Latest On St. Louis Bank Robbery Involving High-Speed Chase, Shootout and Hand Grenade

Yesterday's robbery of this bank had it all.​Did you hear about yesterday's wild bank robbery? St. Louis police report that the two suspects were released from the hospital this morning. Charges could come any moment now. In the meantime, here's the lowdown as reported by the St. Louis police:At 9 ... More >>

Dennis Price: De Soto Man Killed in Home Robbery in Affton, Three Charged with Murder

St. Louis County prosecutors yesterday charged three Jefferson County residents with a home robbery turned murder Friday night in Affton. Sandra Medert, Kenneth Medert and Matthew Angle-Marshall​According to police, Sandra A. Medert, 33, of Arnold; her brother Kenneth Medert, 29, of Barnhart; and ... More >>

Beware the Preacher

World's Ugliest "Woman" Robs St. Louis Bank

Looks like "she" is also in need of a shave.​The St. Louis police department is seeking public assistance in identifying a suspect who robbed a south city bank Wednesday. The incident occurred around 2:20 p.m. September 15 at the Southern Commercial Bank on Meramec. According to police, the thie ... More >>

Wash. U. Among Nation's Most Dangerous Colleges [Updated]

Wikimedia CommonsAbandon hope (and your wallet, your bicycle and possibly your car) ye who enter here.​Oh, hello there Daily Beast rankings! It's been a while since we heard from you. Not that we missed you. You have such a way of making us feel bad about ourselves, even if we have doubts abou ... More >>

St. Louis Police Seek Ding Dongs Who Robbed Hostess Store

​St. Louis police did not respond to my request asking to get a department official on record calling the crooks pictured here "Ding Dongs." So, I'll have to do it myself. Though I gotta say: I'm a little disappointed that they stand accused of robbery and not soliciting prostitution at the Hostes ... More >>

Reggie Moses: Convicted of Robbing Drug Dealers, Impersonating Omar From The Wire

Image viaOmar Little or Reggie Moses?​"Let's say we had a disagreement.""A disagreement over...?""Well, you see, Mike-Mike thought he should keep that cocaine he was slingin' and the money he was makin' from slingin' it. I thought otherwise."That's an excerpt from the famous courtroom scene in the ... More >>

ATM Solutions Robbery: Three People Detained Today Could Be Tied to Heist

4600 Jamieson where three people were placed in custody today.​The Post-Dispatch is reporting that three people were placed in custody this morning in relation to last week's robbery of ATM Solutions -- a heist that may have yielded more than $11 million. The suspects -- two women and a man -- wer ... More >>

FBI Seeks Help Nabbing "Granddad Bandit" -- Elderly Robber May Have Struck 21 Banks

The "Granddad Bandit" robs a St. Louis Bank of America in May.​The St. Louis FBI is holding a press conference this morning to call attention to the so-called "Granddad Bandit." The balding bank robber, believed to be in his 50s, robbed the Bank of America at 5600 South Lindbergh Boulevard in St. ... More >>

Christopher Holland Jr.: Alleged Robber Shot Dead in Hazelwood

​Police have identified the man shot to death during last night's failed robbery in a Hazelwood subdivision. Hazelwood police chief Carl Wolf tells Daily RFT that the deceased is Christopher Dominick Holland Jr. of Pamplin Place in north St. Louis. According to Wolf, Holland attempted to rob by gu ... More >>

Photos: St. Louis F.B.I.'s Most-Wanted Fugitives of All Time

James Earl Ray, one of the most notorious "Top Ten" fugitives of all time hailed from St. Louis (Alton) but was placed on the list by the Memphis F.B.I. following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. ​This Sunday marks the 60th anniversary of the F.B.I's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list, a ... More >>

Holiday Sneer: Do unscrupulous websites and fire-protection districts mess with our happiness quotient?

Suspect Pedals Away from Bank Robbery

He went that way. ​This just in from the FBI...Authorities are looking for a "black male, average build and around 5'10" tall" who robbed the Midwest Credit Union on Flower Valley in Florissant bank this morning. The suspect was last seen wearing a thin white cloth wrapped around his head, da ... More >>

Police Make Arrests In Maggie O'Brien's Homicide

The St. Louis police have identified three men they believe are responsible for the robbery-turned-homicide last week at Maggie O'Brien's bar and restaurant downtown that left bartender Michael Dolan dead from gunshot wounds.  Police say one of the suspects from that night was Derrick Bell, a m ... More >>

Love Vigilantes

The Robber Bridegroom steals into town

Crime Story

Ghost letter from a powerbroker teaches Slay the perils of using the bully pulpit

Unsettled

The only person likely to pay for killing LaTanya Mickles-Hamlin is the guy who named the alleged triggerman

The Robber

By Robert Walser; translated and with an introduction by Susan Bernofsky
University of Nebraska Press, 141 pages, $15

Swiss Mystery

Wash. U. grad Susan Bernofsky brings the mysterious Swiss writer Robert Walser into English

Pot Luck

Calling the cops was probably the last thing Jim Hammond should have done

Lost in America

When the feds busted the "Black String Gang," they scratched the surface of the Vietnamese youth problem in South St. Louis. But no one's bothered to dig deeper into how it started.

News of the Weird

Letters to the Editor