On August 11, 1998, Felica Gayle, a former post-dispatch reporter, was stabbed forty-three times with a butcher knife from her kitchen. Police eventually arrested and charged a man named Marcellus Williams who was convicted in 2001. His trial then lasted for 26 more years, as certain evidence was denied, or evidence was lost. He had criminal charges before he was convicted as a suspect in this case.
Willams was convicted based on testimony from jailhouse informants and evidence that was not tied to Williams. He maintained his innocence throughout the trial.
The case quickly gained traction due to the questioning of the court and the public surrounding the evidence the court tied to the murder. The DNA found at the crime scene did not match Williams’s.
Even so, on September 24th, 2024 he was put to death at the state prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri by lethal injection despite continued appeals from activists and Williams’s legal team.
His death has sparked debates and questions regarding the death penalty and how reliable informant testimony truly is.