Felicia Gayle Picus (known as Lisha) was a ''

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-Dem ...

'' reporter who was found stabbed to death in her

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

home.

Murder

Gayle, 42 years old at the time, was murdered during a burglary in her gated community home in the University City suburb of St Louis, Missouri, on August 11, 1998. She was stabbed between 10 times and 43 times with a butcher's knife.

Investigation and trial

Police arrested Marcellus Williams (born December 30, 1968) for the crime based on a

jailhouse confession A jailhouse confession is a confession to a crime given by a prisoner to another inmate while in custody. Legal regimes have developed with respect to the use of jailhouse confessions in the prosecution of crimes. United States Writing in the C ...

to fellow inmate Henry Cole, and testimony of his former girlfriend Lara Asaro for which $10000 was paid. No physical evidence connects Williams to the murder, although the police found some of Gayle's possessions, including her husband's laptop, in the car Williams drove that day. In December, DNA testing results cast fresh doubt on the conviction. On August 15, 2017, the

Supreme Court of Missouri The Supreme Court of Missouri is the highest court in the state of Missouri. It was established in 1820 and is located at 207 West High Street in Jefferson City, Missouri. Missouri voters have approved changes in the state's constitution to give ...

summarily denied him a new execution stay, despite recently obtained results of that testing that support his innocence claim. Williams was sentenced to death on August 27, 2001, by St. Louis County Circuit Judge Emmett M. O’Brien. He is held at

Potosi Correctional Center Potosi Correctional Center (PCC) is a Missouri Department of Corrections prison located in unincorporated Washington County, Missouri, near Mineral Point. The facility currently houses 800 death row, maximum security and high-risk male inmate ...

and was scheduled to be executed by

lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital puni ...

on August 22, 2017. A last minute

stay of execution A stay of execution is a court order to temporarily suspend the execution of a court judgment or other court order. The word "execution" does not always mean the death penalty. It refers to the imposition of whatever judgment is being stayed and i ...

was issued by Governor

Eric Greitens Eric Robert Greitens (; born April 10, 1974) is a former American politician who was the 56th governor of Missouri from January 2017 until his resignation in June 2018 amid allegations of sexual assault and campaign finance impropriety. Born a ...

and a Board of Inquiry was initiated. The Board is headed by

Carol E. Jackson Carol E. Jackson (born 1952) is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Education and career Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Jackson received a Bachelor of Arts degree from We ...

and consists of 5 retired judges. It has subpoenaed both prosecution and defense. The Board had hearings in August 2018, and Governor

Mike Parson Michael Lynn Parson (born September 17, 1955) is an American politician serving as the 57th governor of Missouri since 2018. A member of the Republican Party, Parson served in the Missouri House of Representatives from 2005 to 2011 and in the ...

will receive the Board's conclusion, and make his decision. As of September 2021 the Board were still looking into new findings.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gayle, Felicia 1998 murders in the United States 1998 in Missouri American murder victims August 1998 events in the United States Deaths by person in Missouri Deaths by stabbing in Missouri People murdered in Missouri

Murder

Investigation and trial

See also

References