Connected Homicides In St. Louis, MO

In the last week, at least 7 black female residents of St. Louis have been shot, three of them killed. A viral Tiktok was posted by LamaraIndigo  suggesting that someone was intentionally killing black women. 

“… Black women in St. Louis are being intentionally shot and killed. Somebody is hunting black women. Not assaulting them. Not robbing them. Somebody is killing black women,” she says.

LamaraIndigo is a black woman living in St. Louis. She posts about raising awareness for various topics. Even before this video, she had a large following. With this video, her following grew even more. They are not involved in these shootings, but wanted to educate people on the issue. In this video she shared what she knew about this situation as well as her opinion on it.   

This video gained traction quickly. She says that no one is doing anything to stop the violence because she believes residents of St. Louis have become desensitized to it. In the video, she even goes so far as to say that people, who live outside of St. Louis are committing these crimes.

There has been very little formal news coverage about these shootings. Rather, this TikTok video is what made many people realize what was happening. Most people in the comment section, including some citizens of St. Louis, had no clue this was happening. 

The St. Louis police department held a press conference on Tuesday, September 21 to announce that the three killings are linked. However, the police have not yet disclosed what evidence proves that the deaths were linked. Major Shawn Dace was confronted about these people getting killed by a serial killer; he says he does not want to categorize that yet. At this point in time, there is no evidence that these are serial murders. 

The first victim of these shootings was 16 year old Marnay Haynes. When police arrived on the scene she was pronounced dead upon arrival. 

The second victim was found near West Florissant Avenue on September, 16. Police found her suffering from a gunshot wound. She was taken to the hospital where she later died.  Her identity has not been released. 

Pam Abercrombie was a sex worker who was shot and killed on the corner of Florissant and Prairie. When KMOV asked another sex worker, who worked in the same neighborhood if she thought that she would be the next target, she said, “I don’t think there is a serial killer on the loose…”  

Others believe that there is a serial killer targeting sex workers, more specifically black women who are sex workers. This is just an unconfirmed theory, however. So far, there has been little formal news coverage about any of this. Of the small portion of information available, facts about the victims are few and far between. Nothing is being said about victims besides Pam having been sex workers. Police say that releasing more details about these shootings could jeopardize the investigation.   

Crime in St. Louis against people of color is much higher than crime against white residents. According to the St.Louis government website, black residents are 2.5 times more likely than white residents to fall victim to a violent crime. This may be why some residents seem so unsurprised by these shootings. The state of Missouri leads the nation in homicide rates among black people. Black women are murdered at a rate of 4.41 out of 100,000, compared to a rate of 1.45 out of 100,000 for white women.

With very high statistics of violence against black people, some believe that black sex workers are at even higher risk. It is only a theory at this point whether these killings are serial murders but people are still very scared because it’s still a possibility. Some women in St. Louis are even offering to help other people get off the street if needed.