Texas Man Charged in Killing of Teen on Missouri Highway
Prosecutors have charged Willie James Herndon, 43, of Texas, in connection with the shooting death of 17-year-old Alyssa Wilson on Interstate 170 in Overland, Missouri, on 14 October. The Guardian reported on 25 October that Herndon has been charged with first-degree murder in St. Louis County. Herndon had no known relationship to Wilson.
Wilson, a senior at McCluer North High School, was driving a Buick Encore when a single shot was fired into the back of her car. The shot struck her and left her incapacitated, and the car crashed into a concrete highway median. She was pronounced dead at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
The case reaches back to 11 October. St. Louis metropolitan police received a report that a vehicle had been shot just after exiting Interstate 55 in Missouri. Surveillance footage captured a white SUV fleeing that scene that matched the appearance of a Buick Enclave belonging to Herndon, and a shell casing was recovered there. Prosecutors said ballistics tests were being conducted to determine whether that casing was fired from the same weapon that killed Wilson.
Prosecutors said they tracked a Buick Enclave believed to be Herndon's from the 11 October scene to the place where Wilson was shot on 14 October. On 16 October, they said, the vehicle was traced to a Days Inn hotel in Caseyville, Illinois.
Herndon came out of a hotel room there and tried to run while shouting words about a shooting, and he was arrested. Inside the room, prosecutors said they found an ABC-15 rifle in plain view and ammunition of the kind used in Wilson's shooting. They also reported finding a receipt from a gas station near the scene on Interstate 170, two license plates, and handwritten notes describing police vehicles that Herndon believed were tracking him.
Federal prosecutors in Illinois have charged Herndon with being a felon in possession of a firearm, a charge that concerns a gun in the hands of a person with a felony record. Separately, he faces the St. Louis County charges of first-degree murder and armed criminal action, the latter a Missouri charge for using a gun during a felony.
Herndon's wife, Taiya Herndon, 45, is also facing charges connected to Wilson's death, according to FirstAlert 4, which reported the charges on 19 October.
