ST. LOUIS – A St. Louis County woman appeared in St. Louis Circuit Court on Monday and pleaded guilty to stabbing her ex-boyfriend to death in 2022.
According to police and prosecutors, the murder happened on Sept. 22, 2022, in the city’s Walnut Park East neighborhood.
Police said Carla Welch broke into Charles M. Johnson II’s home in the 5200 block of Emerson Avenue through a rear door and stabbed him repeatedly. Johnson and Welch had recently broken up.
Phone records showed Welch and Johnson had exchanged several phone calls earlier in the day. GPS data from Welch’s cell phone put her at Johnson’s home around the time of his death. Johnson was 35.
A jury trial was scheduled to begin on Monday. However, Welch agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges.
The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office agreed to dismiss a first-degree burglary charge and alter the first-degree murder charge to second-degree. Welch also pleaded guilty to armed criminal action.
Welch, now 35, was sentenced to 18 years in state prison: 15 years for the murder and three years for armed criminal action, which she will serve consecutively. She was given credit for four months of time served on house arrest.
