COURTESY ST. LOUIS POLICE
Bradley Jenkins, blood still on his shirt, was found straddling his wife's body, police say.
An Illinois corrections worker was jailed on a domestic assault charge after his wife tumbled to her death from a parking garage in downtown St. Louis.
The horrifying final moments of Allissa Martin's life were recorded on her cell phone, police say.
The 27-year-old newlywed, who also worked for Illinois corrections, turned on the video function early Sunday morning as she argued with husband Bradley Jenkins, 30, of Taylorville, Illinois, following a St. Louis Cardinals game. In the footage, Martin is heard telling Jenkins to stop punching her in the face before she drops the phone, according to a probable cause statement.
"Shortly after that, you hear her scream as she falls and you hear the thump of her body hitting the ground," Detective Mark West writes in the statement.
A 911 caller reported the fatal fall at 1:45 a.m. Sunday, and officers responded within minutes to the parking garage at 200 South Broadway, near Busch Stadium. They found Jenkins straddling Martin's body on the garage's ramp, police say. He was covered in blood. He appeared intoxicated and agitated, according to court records.
Investigators later found Martin's cell phone on the seventh floor of the parking garage. It was still filming. They played the video from the start and discovered the horrific footage. West says Martin filmed herself before turning the camera on Jenkins as they argued.
Jenkins told investigators they had been married on May 22, less than two weeks before Martin's death, in Las Vegas. Police say the couple had gone to the game with coworkers and had gotten into an argument.
When questioned, Jenkins told multiple lies that were refuted by the video, police say. He allegedly claimed he had never been on the roof of the parking garage and that the argument never turned violent, despite footage that contradicted his statements.
For now, Jenkins has been charged only with third-degree domestic assault. However, West writes in his statement authorities are awaiting an autopsy before deciding whether he should be charged in Martin's death.
He was jailed on $100,000 cash bond.
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