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Police have released a person of interest in the case of a woman found dead in south St. Louis Sunday morning.

Police found 47-year-old Aretha Robinson in the alley behind the 2200 block of South Jefferson. The coroner determined Robinson was strangled. Officers picked up a person of interest, but have released the person without filing charges.

 

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Police in St. Louis are searching for five men after a woman was killed during a robbery.

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The crime happened Monday night. Police say 39-year-old Glenda Jackson and two others were robbed at gunpoint by five assailants. One of the suspects shot Jackson in the chest as she tried to take back the stolen property.

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The suspects ran from the scene. Jackson was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) - A man accused of using a prosthetic penis to try to pass a drug test has been arrested in eastern Missouri.

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Authorities say 34-year-old Sydney Levin was submitting a urine sample last week as part of his probation when an officer allegedly spotted him using a prosthetic known as a Whizzinator. The prosthetic is advertised as a "discreet" device that includes synthetic "medical grade urine."

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KMOV-TV reports that Levin, of Lake St. Louis, was charged last week with possessing a forging instrument. He was arrested and released after posting $25,000 bond. He pleaded not guilty Monday.

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Authorities say Levin's probation required him to submit a urine sample as part of drug test. He was on probation for possession of a controlled substance and felony stealing.

NEW LONDON, Mo. (AP) - Authorities in the northeast Missouri town of New London are searching for the man who shot a child with a blow gun.

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The Hannibal Courier-Post reports that the incident happened Monday. The boy, who is about 10, had a tetanus shot and is OK.

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Police Chief Brad Sanders says two boys were walking along a street when a pickup truck approached. Someone inside the truck fired a dart, about 3-4 inches long, and it struck one of the boys in the arm.

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The weather was cold and Sanders says the boy's heavy coat prevented more serious injury.

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The boys ran to Casey's General Store where store manager Arlene Hudson tended to the injury until emergency crews arrived.

BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) - A southwestern Illinois jury has acquitted one of four people who had been accused in the 2011 stabbing death of a Georgia man.

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The Belleville News-Democrat reports that 39-year-old Christopher Mays of Caseyville was found not guilty Wednesday of first-degree murder and felony murder.

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Authorities say 38-year-old Melvin Gregory moved to the area from Conyers, Ga., to live with his girlfriend. After those two got into an altercation that involved Mays and two other defendants, Gregory's body was found in August 2011 on the side of a road by horseback riders near Cahokia.

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The three other defendants have pleaded not guilty and await trial.

 

A St. Louis Police Officer has been suspended and faces domestic assault charges for an incident earlier this month.

Officer Matthew Schanz was involved in an incident while off-duty on March 10. In addition to the domestic assault charges, he is also charged with resisting or interfering with an arrest. Schanz has been with the department for three years and was placed on desk duty after the incident. Now that charges are filed, Schanz has been suspended.

Police Chief Sam Dotson says the department is committed to identify officers who undermine the integrity of the department.

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. (AP) - A northeast Missouri man charged with killing and dismembering his neighbor could enter a plea next week.

Forty-nine-year-old Paul Potter of Kirksville will be arraigned April 2 on first-degree murder and other charges in the January death of 74-year-old Willis Edward Meredith.

Prosecutors say Potter stabbed Meredith, dismembered his body and set fires to conceal the crime. He also allegedly threw the victim's arms at witnesses shortly before he was arrested.

Potter waived his preliminary hearing last Thursday, sending the case to the Adair County Circuit Court.

The Kirksville Daily Express reports that a court order prevents attorneys from discussing the case with the media.

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Nearly a year after a man was shot to death in St. Louis' Ville neighborhood, two men are facing murder charges.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 20-year-old Ralph Alexander and 25-year-old Dontrell Sanders are both charged with first-degree murder and other charges. Both are jailed, Alexander without bail and Sanders on $250,000 cash-only bail.

Authorities say the men were involved in a drive-by shooting on April 5, then another shooting about four minutes later. Police say 47-year-old Tracy Jones died as he sat in a car in the second shooting. A 56-year-old woman survived a wound to the thigh.

It took under a minute for thieves to grab nearly 20,000 dollars worth of jewelry from a Cahokia pawn shop last night.

The crime was caught by surveillance cameras and the video shows an organized group of criminals. The men--all in masks--broke the front window, walked up to a jewelry cabinet, broke the glass, and started grabbing jewelry. Police said the suspects were in and out of the store within 30 seconds and made off with 150 pieces of jewelry worth around $20,000.

The suspects drove off in Chevy Impala.

A participant in a knock-out-game beating last year, got the maximum jail sentence this week.

Edward Townsend will spend one year in prison after admitting to his role in the May 2012 attack in the Central West End. Neighborhood residents sent nearly two dozen letters to the judge saying Townsend deserved the maximum penalty and the judge agreed.