St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • A3

09.16.2021 Thursday 1 sT. LOuIs POsT-dIsPaTCh A3LOCAL detectives to the prison in Bowling Green. Dressed in suits and jotting down notes, they probed for specif- ics to make sure the facts checked out. One of the detectives, hard- ened from years of working homi- cide cases, wanted to know his true motivation. was Thomas told them.

Thomas was 19 when he killed Epps, a stranger who agreed to buy Thomas a bottle of whiskey because Thomas was too young. Epps, 30, bought the liquor at a grocery store near Jefferson and Lafayette avenues. Afterward, they fought over $18. took my Thomas said. hit me and started fight- ing me.

I chased him down and shot Epps collapsed and died in Eads Square Park, near Hodgen Elemen- tary School. To this day, a sound from that night sticks with Thomas: the screams. I shot him, I remember him yelling out in pain. He just Thomas said. knew I hit him and turned around and Thomas claims he only wanted to wound the man.

In the years immediately after the killing, police never questioned Thomas nor counted him a suspect. He on their radar. Police fig- ured Epps was killed by someone who knew him. Thomas, by all ac- counts, had gotten away with mur- der. Until, that is, conscience pestered him.

He started weighing confessing around 2006. Friends told him he was crazy to do it. He could be paroled in his robbery case in as soon as two years and be home free, they told him. confess. the Thomas had been reading the Bible, which was more convincing than his friends.

knew I had to he said. about it bothered me. It was on my When he stopped taking his an- tipsychotic medication and wound up on suicide watch, he recalled, he thought even harder about admit- ting his crime. Once he returned to a regular cell, he told a sergeant su- pervisor he wanted to confess. She said have to write it down, so he began with this sen- tence: killed Craig Epps in cold blood with a .32 caliber pistol some- time in late 1998 or early He had seen an article in the newspaper shortly after the mur- der but misremembered first name.

After writing his confession, Thomas mentioned it to a prisoner who was his religious leader in the Moorish Science Temple of Amer- ica. The man was incredulous, ask- ing, were you Morley Swingle was an assistant circuit attorney in St. Louis when Thomas confessed. Swingle cred- its lead detective Joshua Wenstrom with doing the leg work to verify the confession was genuine. did really nail it Swingle said of Wenstrom.

did a very thorough job of coming up with every way he could possible to corroborate what this man was saying to make sure it a false Wenstrom was dubious at first: was thinking, is too good to be Detectives found microfilm of the Post-Dispatch article Thomas had read, to explain how Thomas knew last name. They confirmed that Thomas lived in St. Louis at the time and been in jail. They talked with relatives of Epps to confirm he lived close by and would make trips to the store. They also confirmed the caliber of the weapon Thomas claimed he used.

was a unique Wen- strom said Tuesday. he got it right on the Swingle called it a bit of with police showing how Thomas things that only the killer would was just amazing how, since this was a stranger-on-stranger crime, if the guy had not come for- ward with this confession, the case would not have been Swingle said. Even family long suspected the wrong person, Swingle added. A confession rarely closes a cold case. would say of the cold cases are made (through) Swingle said.

Wenstrom worked as a St. Louis homicide detective participating with the Cold Case Unit until he re- tired in February. He said proud the unit counts it a success and is equally proud that family was able to see the case solved. Thomas figured relatives would rejoice and thank him for his honesty, but thanks never came. They urged the judge to deliver a harsh penalty.

In October 2019, Thomas pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter under a plea deal. A judge sentenced him to a 15 years for the crime, which Thomas thought was too long. family be reached by the Post-Dispatch for comment. Thomas, now 42, scoffs a bit at police for taking credit for the con- viction. got Thomas said.

have nothing until I confessed, and they got to close a 19-year-old murder Now at the Potosi Correctional Center, he is scheduled for a parole hearing in December 2026 on his six sentences, including robbery, manslaughter and armed criminal action. His sentences expire in 2041, said Chris Neiman, a spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Corrections. Thomas has advice for family members of murder victims whose cases remain unsolved: them to keep praying for jus- he said. maybe one day their killer will A case The St. Louis Police Department formed its Cold Case Unit in Febru- ary 2019; its current caseload dates to the early 1980s.

Maj. Shawn Dace said the unit has had six successes. of the 28 we started with, we have been able to make six meaning there are new leads for detectives to investigate. Aside from the Epps case, the other five cases resulted in charges, and Dace share spe- cifics. Investigators here consider a case cold when, regardless of how old it is, police have no viable leads.

after three or four Dace said, runs cold, the leads have been The Cold Case Unit consists of eight detectives and two sergeants who spend time on these cases in addition to their other duties with the homicide division. Dace said proud of the com- mitment: come in on their vacations, keep their phones on on their off days and when fish- ing with their kids or The veteran sergeants in charge are Sgt. Brian McGlynn and Sgt. Scott Ecker, with a combined 60- plus experience in police work. Advances in DNA technology and genetic genealogy have helped po- lice nationwide to reopen investiga- tions.

Labs can analyze the tiniest of DNA samples, such as hair and skin cells, once thought too small or too damaged. St. Louis investigators pe- riodically go through the cold-case archives to see what, if any, of the new technology could help. Even though DNA technology is the big news, police find that, some- times, the key to making progress is simply time and changing mindset. Dace said, takes years before witnesses are comfort- able to come With that in mind, Dace renewed an appeal this year for help from the public in perhaps the coldest case of all: the death of Jane a headless girl discovered 38 years ago and whose identity is still a mystery.

Two men scavenging for pipes found her body Feb. 28, 1983, in an abandoned building at 5635 Cle- mens Avenue. She had been in the basement about four days, accord- ing to police. She was Black, be- tween the ages of 8 and 11, weighed about 58 pounds and was about 4-foot-10 without her head, which had been removed after death and was never found. Police believe she had been sexu- ally assaulted, Dace said.

She was clad only in a dirty yellow V-neck long-sleeve sweater, and her hands were tied in back with a red- and-white nylon rope. Dace said she had two coats of red and purple fin- gernail polish. struggling to figure out, at least, even who she Dace said. The Jane Doe case has been inves- tigated and reexamined numerous times over the years. Volumes of case files have been digitized.

Inves- tigators found any relatives through DNA. anybody knows or can recol- lect a child gone missing about that time, please notify he said. Anyone with information on the Jane Doe case, or any unsolved St. Louis homicide, is asked to call detectives at 314-444-5371 or CrimeStoppers at 866-371-8477. CHRISTIAN GOODEN, HISTORIC TOWER GROVE PARK PAVILIONS GET LIGHTING UPGRADES Attendees mingle Wednesday following a lighting ceremony for the nearly 150-year-old Turkish Pavilion along Center Cross Drive in Tower Grove Park.

Renovations at the historic Old Playground Pavilion closer to the east end were also revealed Wednesday. Nearly $1 million in work was done on both this year, the most extensive upgrades either has seen. Masonry, new paint and added lighting are intended to make them safer for use at night. Case From A1 is needed. Moreover, they say, the battle holds far broader sig- nificance, with the potential to reshape the future of pipeline development across the U.S.

Spire, meanwhile, insists the STL line has spared the region from gas shortages, including during the freeze that crippled Texas and Oklahoma pipelines last winter. captive on Texas and the Gulf Coast region and Okla- homa for gas is no longer the prudent said Sean Ja- mieson, general counsel for the arm of Spire that developed the project. are extreme weather events occurring in places that were not expected just 10 years The 65-mile legal woes have been in the spotlight since June, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Co- lumbia ruled that the two-year- old project which improves the St. Louis access to gas from both the Eastern U.S.

and the Rocky Mountains never adequately demonstrated that it was needed by regional cus- tomers. The ruling cited a range of factors, including flat gas con- sumption for the area and the failure to attract bids from independent gas shippers, who never inked commitments to get fuel from the line some- thing critics have said reflects a lack of market demand. Spire has since exhausted key avenues to fight the ruling. Last week, the D.C. Circuit court de- nied the request to rehear the case, and by Monday, the utility acknowledged that it was starting run out of legal said company spokes- man Jason Merrill.

But in recent days, Spire has set a last-ditch blitz in motion. On Monday evening, the com- pany submitted a filing to the D.C. Circuit court to stay its rul- ing, which otherwise would have forced the pipeline to stop trans- porting fuel the following day. In the same filing, Spire said it aimed to take the case before the U.S. Supreme Court and that it had hired high-profile lawyers to lead the fight.

And on Tuesday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted the company a 90-day emergency certificate to con- tinue operating the line as it re- views the approval. Gillian Giannetti, an attorney who tracks national energy is- sues for the Natural Resources Defense Council, called the moves and the overture to the Supreme Court a No backup plan Spire says the project is vital for serving local customers and credits the line with sparing the region from the gas shortages and price shocks that stretched from Texas to western Missouri in Feb- ruary amid a winter freeze that gripped much of the central U.S. Prior to the STL con- struction, the company used to rely primarily on a separate pipeline that carried gas from places like Texas, Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast region. The util- ity says the new line has played a crucial role in diversifying the gas supply something reinforced by the February freeze. But it said backup plans, if forced to make do without the line, clear.

The company said in July that it cannot revert back to getting gas from pipelines it formerly relied on because other gas ship- pers have purchased the extra capacity. are trying to not leave any stone unturned said Jamieson, the general counsel. there is no viable replace- He said the company has spent the summer filling billions of cubic feet of available storage capacity with gas, but that ap- proach alone enough to ride out a winter without the pipeline. factored into the equation, and we still have an Jamieson said. The pipeline itself, he said, has illustrated how critical it is.

is compelling, now- demonstrated evidence about the benefits of this said Jamieson. hope and we expect (FERC) to consider these Changing precedent None of the parties involved in the fight wants to see St. Louis- area gas customers put at risk as a result of the court decision, in- cluding the Environmental De- fense Fund, which sued to block the STL line. has previously stated that FERC should act as nec- essary to ensure that residents and business in St. Louis con- tinue to have reliable access to natural gas during this upcom- ing the group said in a statement.

Concerns about natural gas reliability, among others, high- light the need for federal regula- tors to more thorough scrutiny of pipeline applications before FERC approval is granted and the infrastructure is it continued. Giannetti said she hopes the ongoing debate about the pipe- line stays rooted in facts. concern is that Spire is going all in on she said. that fear backed up by And Giannetti worried that justifying the usefulness with evidence from after its con- struction would create a danger- ous new precedent one that could see pipelines built first and justified later. She said particularly im- portant to consider the incen- tives for pipeline development amid a warming world.

continuing to build out more and more pipelines, we are continuing to expand our de- pendence on the fuels that flow within she said. incentives do we want to provide for pipeline Bryce Gray 314-340-8307 on Twitter Pipeline From A1 BY JACOB BARKER St. Louis Post-Dispatch ST. LOUIS A city attorney argued in court on Wednesday that payers of the city earnings tax who worked from home last year would each need to file in- dividual lawsuits against the city if they want refunds. A lawyer for St.

Louis Collec- tor of Revenue Gregory F.X. Daly argued that a lawsuit seeking class action should be dismissed because those taxpayers must file individually for refunds un- der a Missouri law governing tax disputes. But attorney Mark Milton, representing several plaintiffs who say they were denied tax refunds for days they worked outside of the city last year, said his clients never had the abil- ity to file a protest under that law. The collector announced a policy change halfway through the year, and they had expected to receive refunds based on an end-of-year form they had sub- mitted to the collector in prior years, Milton argued. The arguments were the lat- est in a case that could have ma- jor consequences for the budget more than one-third of which comes from the earnings tax paid by residents and those who work in the city but live elsewhere.

Milton and attorney Bevis Schock filed suit in March, alleging the city col- office, worried over the millions in revenue at stake be- cause of the pandemic, stopped its past practice of paying re- funds to people who worked remotely. Milton pointed to Kansas City, the only other Missouri city with an earnings tax, which is not contesting teleworking re- funds and processing a backlog of claims due to the pandemic. St. Louis aldermen, Milton said, could have changed the refund ordinances. just, as an execu- tive, change the he said.

But David Luce, representing the collector, said the job is both to collect the earnings tax and decide when it applies. St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Christopher McGraugh could issue a ruling soon on the motion to dismiss. Jacob Barker 314-340-8291 on Twitter Want an earnings tax refund? File your own lawsuit, city says BY STEPH KUKULJAN St. Louis Post-Dispatch MARYLAND HEIGHTS A revenue shortfall at the new public ice center here prompted the city of Maryland Heights to again tap a special fund in order to make mandatory bond pay- ments.

The city is required to make biannual interest payments, in addition to annual debt pay- ments, on the $55.5 million in bonds it issued to build the $83 million Centene Community Ice Center, where the St. Louis Blues practice. Revenue from the ice center and the special sales tax, which also nets money from the nearby Hollywood Ca- sino Hotel and the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, contrib- ute to debt payments. But the impact on revenues caused the city to use $362,000 of reserve funds the second time this year it has had to do so to make its $1.3 mil- lion interest payment that was due Wednesday, according to fi- nancial disclosures. City Administrator Tracey An- derson did not respond to a re- quest for comment.

The four-rink center, at 750 Casino Drive, opened in 2019. But COVID-19 prompted the fa- cility to close for several months last year. In June, contractors sued the operator, alleging they are owed more than $6 mil- lion for unpaid work. The city, in financial disclosures released Wednesday, said it expects will be extraordinary compensa- tion, costs and related to the lawsuit. Those costs will be covered by revenues from the ice center and special sales tax, the documents said.

Steph Kukuljan 314-340-8506 on Twitter Maryland Heights taps special fund to make payment on practice facility.