CLAYTON, Mo. – The Major Case Squad is following up on several leads in a murder that’s shaken the Clayton community.
One neighbor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said it happened right behind where she lives. “It was extremely close to home.”
She lives right next to the murder scene off Wydown Boulevard in Clayton. She remembers hearing loud banging noises just after 5 a.m. “I thought it was maybe the trash cans,” she said. “Or we have big metal doors down in the basement, so I thought maybe someone was trying to close the door or maybe a trash can top. Never once in a million years did I think it was gunshots.”
She says the police investigation took officers down a walkway between buildings to Byron Place, where officers were focused on a car with a single bullet hole in a window. Investigators were reportedly trying to retrieve a bullet they believed came from gunfire between the apartment buildings.
Police have also been gathering nearby surveillance video, looking for a possible getaway car.
Closer to Wydown, the police investigation focused on the driveway and walkway between apartment buildings. Officers placed evidence markers, including one next to a flip-flop. Another officer used a metal detector, looking for something as neighbors embraced, hoping for answers.
Another neighbor said, “It’s not something I would have ever imagined hearing about in this area.”
The neighbor, who did not want to be identified, said she moved to Clayton for her safety. She told us, “To move out here and open up my back door and [to have] it be a crime scene is beyond me. It’s very shocking.”
Clayton Police requested the Major Case Squad’s assistance, which activated just after 11 a.m. Monday. It has been tight-lipped since then.
