St. Louis News Blog

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Alyssa Bustamante

​By now you've heard the story of Alyssa Bustamante.

The 15-year-old from outside Jefferson City is accused of digging a grave and then strangling and stabbing to death her nine-year-old neighbor because, according to police, Bustamante "wanted to know what it felt like" to kill someone.

Bustamante is clearly a fucked up kid. She suffers depression, routinely cuts herself and tried to commit suicide two years ago. But did you also know that she is "emo"?

What is emo, you ask?

Thankfully we have Channel 5 (KSDK) to explain.
If you missed station's lead story last night on the definition and (possible perils) of the emo lifestyle, you missed some unbelievably earnest -- and unintentionally comedic -- reporting.

Check out the video clip after the jump...

Police Handout

Brandon Davis

​The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office yesterday issued warrants on Brandon Davis, a 17-year-old from Overland accused of shooting a man to death Monday and seriously wounding a female victim during a home invasion.

According to St. Louis County police, Davis entered a home in the 10500 block of Emerald Ridge in Overland around 9:00 p.m. on Monday and shot and killed Duane Woodson, 31. Davis also shot an unidentified female in her 20s as she fled the home. Her injuries are not considered life-threatening. It's unclear at this point whether Davis had a relationship with the victims.

Davis was arrested Tuesday afternoon at his home, and has been charged with first-degree murder, first-degree assault, attempted robbery, attempted burglary and armed-criminal action.

This just in from the St. Louis police:

Just after midnight today undercover officers saw a 2004 Dodge Ram pickup truck near the area of St. Louis Avenue and Clara. The truck had been reported stolen from St. Charles, Missouri, on 11/15/09.

Undercover officers followed the vehicle and eventually deployed spike strips in its path, causing two of the tires to deflate. The vehicle, however, continued to flee from the officers. As the driver of the vehicle attempted to turn into an alley behind the 5600 block of Wabada, the vehicle lost control, struck a guidewire (for a telephone pole) and flipped on its driver's side.
 

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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.


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Williams, of the 6100 block of Bermuda in Normandy, had been shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Count up all the other north city murders here.

In other news, an undercover St. Louis cop last night shot and killed two suspects. More on that as information develops.
 

Police Handout

Michael Coffman

​The St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office issued charges yesterday against Michael Shawn Coffman for the murder of Donald Eberhardt last Saturday, Nov. 14, in the relatively peaceful neighborhood of Clifton Heights.

Coffman, 36, of the 1600 block of North 21st St., allegedly shot and killed the 32-year-old Eberhardt in an alley in the 3000 block of Tamm around 11 a.m Saturday.

Eberhardt, 32, lived in the 800 block of Newport in Webster Groves. He was acquainted with Coffmann, according to reports.

Coffman is being held on the charges of first-degree murder and armed criminal action. Bond was set at $500,000 cash only. 

If you look closely you can see Kurt Warner's head right above the wall on the grassy knoll.

​As far as grand conspiracies go, this one might not rank up there with JFK's assassination and the alleged shooter on the "grassy knoll".

But it does share some of the similar themes. A suspicious murder, grass (or artificial turf, anyway) and grainy video footage.

Today the Belleville News-Democrat is airing a clip of a charity touch-football game from earlier this year that featured Arizona Cardinals QB Kurt Warner and Chris Coleman -- the Columbia, Illinois, father accused of murdering his wife, Sheri, and their two children this past May.

Police Handout

Kenneth Ritrovato Jr.

​Officials in Jefferson County yesterday issued warrants for Angela Parke of Ste. Genevieve for tampering with evidence and Kenneth J. Ritrovato Jr. of Ste. Genevieve for the murder of Chester Scherer.

Scherer was last seen at a party on Friday, August 7, 2009 in rural Desoto with Ritrovato and Parke. After Scherer was reported missing investigators say they located a crime scene in rural Desoto that "suggested violence" and became concerned for Scherer's well being.

Police say that 18-year-old Laron Johnson was murdered last night in a vacant lot in the 2000 block of E. Grand Ave.


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The view looking southwest on E. Grand near the murder scene.

The killing took place around 8:30 p.m. Monday. Witnesses reported seeing an unknown man firing multiple shots into Johnson's body as it lay on the ground.

Police have arrested a man suspected of executing a triple-slaying on Saturday night at an East St. Louis Mobil station, reports KMOX.

Vernell J. Loggins Jr.

​A man with a history of erratic behavior for frightening and stalking people, was charged yesterday with killing his girlfriend and dismembering her body. Vernell J. Loggins Jr., 37, was arrested Wednesday in the very apartment complex where the killing took place.

A maintenance worker at the Monroe Woods Apartment complex in Pacific (about 20 miles southwest of St. Louis) discovered the remains Tuesday of Stephanie M. Fields.

Investigators say she was killed with a knife on Sunday or Monday (Nov. 1 or 2) and her body then chopped up and placed in a roll-out trash can next to a Dumpster. Fields family identified her body based on tattoos. Police says that some body parts remain missing and have asked the public for any help finding them.

amw.com

The only items on the body of "Jane Doe" were this bloody sweater and a length of rope.

​Twenty-seven years ago this February the headless body of a young black girl was discovered in the basement of an abandoned building in St. Louis.

Police have never been able to identify the child, and her murder (or murderers) remain at large -- that is, if they're still alive today.

In 2004, the mystery of the girl known only as "Jane Doe" was featured in an in-depth RFT article, "The Case that Haunts."

Five years later and this cold case continues to haunt the police who first investigated the child's murder back in 1983. Now a new generation of homicide detectives find themselves obsessed with unraveling the mystery.

Today those cops have a powerful new aid.  

James Grandberry

​The St. Louis County prosecutor's office has issued second-degree murder charges, armed-criminal action and first-degree attempted robbery charges against two 18-year-old teens -- James Grandberry and Lloyd Brown.

According to St. Louis County police, Grandberry and Brown were seen fleeing the scene of the fatal shooting Tuesday night of Devon Green, 20.

Police report arriving at Sunswept Apartment Complex (northeast of the intersection of Lindbergh and News Hall Ferry) around 11 p.m. October 27 and observing Green collapsed on the parking lot.

St. Louis police officers were on patrol last night in an area of south St. Louis plagued recently with robberies and attempted robberies when they came across two suspicious looking characters.

According to police, the two suspects came out of an alley in the 3100 block of Texas (one block west of Benton Park) around 10:30 p.m. When the officers attempted to question the men, one of them ran while the other stayed put.


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Police say that the fleeing man ran around the corner and pulled a handgun from his waistband. He then appeared to fire at the police, but his gun jammed.

Jerry Washington, 27, collapsed and died on a front porch in the 5200 block of Robin in north St. Louis early this morning. 

James Caston, 21, was shot and killed yesterday afternoon at the intersection of Martin Luther King Drive and Billups. 

​The St. Louis police department today sent out status reports on two of its injured officers. 

It was a particularly bloody and reckless night in St. Louis yesterday. Police report five people killed in four separate incidents last night. 

Deangeleo Tate

​After two-and-a-half months on the run, St. Louis police yesterday arrested Deangeleo Tate in an early morning raid of his hideout in the 5800 block of Cabanne Avenue north of Forest Park.

Tate, 26, is charged with first-degree murder for the May 2008 killing of Mark Murphy after getting in an argument with him in a north city tavern. Tate allegedly pumped eight rounds into Murphy.

Tate was out on bond for that charge when he allegedly shot and killed Shevette Chambers outside the Eat-Rite Diner this past August. Minutes before that early-morning murder, Tate had shared a meal with Chambers and others at the popular diner south of Busch Stadium.

Upon departing the restaurant, Tate's girlfriend arrived on the scene and got into an argument with Chambers. Tate ended the verbal spat when he pulled a gun from his waistband and shot Shevette multiple times.

Tate is being held on a million-dollar, cash-only bond.

Jermaine McDaniels, 30, and another man were sitting in a car in the 6300 block of Stratford near Goodfellow Boulevard yesterday evening around 7:30 p.m. when a dark-colored SUV pulled up and suspects inside the vehicle began firing.


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Intersection of Goodfellow and Stratford

Police Handout

Mario Coleman

​The St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office last night issued 12 warrants against 22-year-old Mario Coleman for yesterday's robbery turned homicide.

The incident occurred around 1 a.m. Monday when Coleman and a 16-year-old accomplice allegedly held up an off-duty St. Louis police officer and her boyfriend as they left a home in the LaSalle Park neighborhood immediately south of downtown.

The suspects forced the couple back inside the home in the 900 block of Hickory Street where they attempted to rob them. Six other people were inside the residence, and a struggle soon ensued.

Gina Stallis, a 34-year-old visitor in the home, was shot in the chest and died. The off-duty cop, who's name has yet to be released, was shot three times and is in critical condition. Her boyfriend, shot in the neck, is in serious condition.

Coleman, of the 300 block of Cabanne, has been charged with:

Updated at 1 p.m.

photo by Jennifer Silverberg

East St. Louis Mayor Alvin Parks

​East St. Louis mayor and liquor commissioner Alvin Parks may have finally had it with his city's nightclubs. After a bloody weekend that left four people injured or dead in two days at nightspots scattered across town, Parks says last call at the bars will be rolled back--at least for the time being-- from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m.

Parks, who was at the scene of one of the murders--a fatal shooting at 3:14 a.m. at Club 2151-- when it occurred Saturday, told the Belleville News-Democrat that he was "very, very disappointed" after the latest round of violence attributed to East St. Louis' nightlife.

Earlier this year, Parks came under fire from metro east law enforcement officials and rival city leaders when the Illinois State Patrol revealed that fifteen homicides over the past five years had "came directly out of East St. Louis nightclubs." Many in the community urged the mayor then to tighten restrictions on liquor sales but he resisted, arguing that the clubs were not solely to blame for the violence and that the cash-starved city relied heavily on them for tax revenue.

The city's nightlife had been tranquil until the bloodshed began Friday morning at Club Etta.

Dorian Boyd

​Here's an update to a story we posted last week.

Police in Illinois believe they've nabbed the man who shot and killed 22-year-old Dion E. Hardin last week as Hardin left Club Peek-a-Boo in Brooklyn, Illinois.

Hardin was shot just as he left the Metro East strip club in the early morning hours of Tuesday, September 22.

This past Tuesday (September 29) police arrested Dorian E. Boyd, 25, on charges of first-degree murder.

Boyd is being held on a $1 million bond.

Four teens were standing outside the Clinton-Peabody housing project near Lafayette Park yesterday when a gray Dodge Stratus rolled by and occupants inside the vehicle began firing.

The incident in the 1200 block of St. Ange Avenue occurred around 6:30 p.m. and left 19-year-old Darnell Mason dead from a gunshot wound to the head.

1200 block of St. Ange Avenue, located three blocks east of Lafayette Park

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Three other teens -- all 19 years in age -- were taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds to the face, arm and thigh. All are reportedly in stable condition.

An investigation is ongoing.

Matson's murder was the 98th this year in St. Louis. Last year at this time the city had experienced more than 130 homicides. 

UPDATE: The FBI has corrected an error in the information it released to media this morning. The agency has arrested 106 child predators over the last 21-month period (not this year alone). Read their correction after the jump.

Before he departs for a city far grittier than St. Louis, the local FBI special-agent-in-charge John Gillies this morning will announce a special honor for St. Louis: We lead the nation in nabbing child predators.

Wikimedia Commons

Perverts, beware!

​Of the U.S.'s 56 FBI offices, St. Louis has made the most arrests of kiddie-porn creeps -- 106 of 'em -- to date this year.

Nine months....thirty-six weeks...that's about three pedophiles a week. God, think of all the visuals the cops must ogle to work up with those stats.

Former RFT staff writer Kathleen McLaughlin took a look at Missouri's affinity for kiddie porn one year ago in her feature story, "Perverts Beware: St. Louis Area Police Have Your Number."

'Twas an especially violent day yesterday in St. Louis, with police arriving to the scenes of four separate shootings.

The most tragic incident occcured around 4 p.m. Monday in the 4800 block of St. Louis Avenue. Police report that 16-year-old Toriano Porter was leaving a north city convenience store with friends when two unknown black males came up behind them and began firing. 


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Porter was shot multiple times in the back and pronounced dead at the scene. One of his companions, an 18-year-old male, managed to run from the scene after being shot in the back and buttocks. A third victim -- a 22-year-old male -- was shot in the foot. Both were taken to and area hospital where they were listed in serious but stable condition. The two unknown suspects fled the scene.

Around the same time Monday afternoon a 71-year-old man was working in his garage in the 5000 block of Durant in north city when he was approached by a man described to be in his late 20s.

Once again, Chicago trumps St. Louis. 

Authorities in Brooklyn, Illinois, are investigating the killing this morning of 22-year-old Dion E. Hardin. 
The shooting is at least the third episode of gunplay occurring near or stemming from a Brooklyn strip club in the past two months.

St. Louis police this morning discovered the body of a black male believed to be in his 20's who'd been shot multiple times in the head.

The man was pronounced dead on the scene. His body was discovered around 4:30 this morning in the 1700 block of Union Boulevard.


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Police say no witnesses could be located and they received no calls for shots fired in the area. An investigation is ongoing.

Danial Rinehart

​Not sure how we missed this story when it first broke in January. Then again, we're sort of glad we did. It's effin' gross.

Yesterday 49-year-old Danial (yes, Danial with two a's) Rinehart pleaded not guilty to charges of incest, statutory rape, child endangerment, second-degree murder and abandonment of a corpse.

Authorities arrested Rinehart, of Harrisonville, Missouri, in January charging him with fathering four children with one of his daughters.