Suspect in Fatal St. Louis Freeway Shooting Linked to Second Roadway Attack
Federal documents reveal the suspect in the fatal shooting of a St. Louis teen is under investigation for a separate roadway attack involving similar ballist...
POLICY WIRE — St. Louis, USA — Federal court filings indicate that the man accused of killing 17-year-old Alyssa Wilson in a freeway shooting near St. Louis is now being investigated for a second roadway attack.
Willie Herndon, 42, of Arlington, Texas, faces charges in the October 14 death of Wilson, a high school student from Florissant, Missouri. Investigators discovered a spent shell casing at the scene of an October 11 shooting in St. Louis that matches the manufacturer of the casing recovered during the investigation into Wilson’s murder.
In the October 11 incident, a vehicle exiting Interstate 55 was struck by gunfire, though no injuries were reported. Security footage captured a white SUV parked on the shoulder before it fled the area, and lab testing is currently underway to determine if ballistic evidence links the two crimes.
Herndon is scheduled for a pretrial detention hearing on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis regarding a federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Court records show prior felony convictions in Los Angeles, including a 2001 vehicle theft and 2015 charges for burglary and receiving stolen property.
The suspect’s wife, Taiya Herndon, faces a state charge of hindering prosecution for allegedly driving the pair to an Illinois hotel following the October 14 attack. Authorities noted that Wilson, who was driving to a zoo event when she was killed, had no prior connection to the couple.
During a search of the hotel room in Caseyville, Illinois, police recovered notebooks containing license plate numbers and descriptions of law enforcement personnel. Prosecutors allege the couple traveled from Texas to Missouri using various Oklahoma license plates that did not belong to their white Buick Enclave.
Authorities stated that on October 14, a person exited a white Buick Enclave on Interstate 170 in Overland, Missouri, and fired at Wilson’s vehicle. The teenager was struck by a single round and later pronounced dead at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
Following the arrest of the couple at the Illinois hotel, investigators recovered an AR-15 style rifle loaded with MaxxTech 7.62×39 ammunition. According to the federal complaint, this ammunition matches the shell casings found at both the site of Wilson’s death and the October 11 shooting.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)