ST. LOUIS – A judge has sentenced a St. Louis man to decades behind bars after he pled guilty to kidnapping, beating and killing a disabled woman in 2021.
Anthony Newberry, 29, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for a second-degree murder charge and 15 years for a kidnapping charge. He will serve both sentences concurrently.
Newberry is convicted in the murder of Lynette Lecates, 41, in St. Louis’ Bevo Mill neighborhood on May 23, 2021.
Investigators say Newberry and another suspect stole Lecates’ debit card but could not use it because they did not have her pin number. When Lecates refused to give the suspects her pin number, they reportedly beat her and forced her into the trunk of Newberry’s car.
Newberry reportedly drove to an industrial area where he an accomplice again beat Lecates and ripped a dialysis port out of her chest. She was later found unconscious near railroad tracks. Investigators say she died around two weeks due to health complications after she was kidnapped and beaten.
According to a news release from the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office, around 4 a.m. on the morning Lecates was found, police found Newberry passed out in his car with music blaring and arrested him for driving while intoxicated. Newberry told police he did not remember anything in connection with Lecates because he had blacked out while high on drugs.
“The ruthless actions of this violent individual clearly show that he is a menace to society,” said
Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore. “We hope this sentence will provide a measure of solace to Ms.
Lecates’s loved ones.”
Darris Williams, 37, is also accused in the death of Lecates. He is scheduled to go to trial in October on charges of first-degree murder, robbery, and kidnapping, injuring, and terrorizing Lecates.
Meanwhile, Newberry has another case pending in which he is accused of holding an unarmed 70-year-old corrections officer hostage on August 22, 2023, while incarcerated at the St. Louis Justice Center.
