Police: Suspect in killing of woman, daughters fled on a bus
ST. LOUIS (AP) - A man charged with killing a St. Louis woman and her two young daughters took a bus to escape the scene and was captured about 100 miles away in Illinois, authorities said.
Ronald Marr, 34, was arrested Thursday, hours after the killings. He is charged with three counts each of first-degree murder and armed criminal action. He was jailed without bond in Effingham, Illinois, awaiting extradition to St. Louis.
Police have not released the names of the victims, a 30-year-old woman, a 7-year-old girl and an infant. Relatives told local media that Marr was the former boyfriend of the woman who was killed.
Marr does not have a listed attorney.
The shootings happened about 7 a.m. Thursday in a two-family brick home in south St. Louis. In court records obtained by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Detective Katherine Rund said a witness heard the shots and saw Marr run from the house. The witness identified Marr in a photo lineup.
Police said Marr threw away his cellphone, purchased a replacement, then took a bus to Illinois, about 100 miles from St. Louis. Police have not disclosed a motive in the killings.
St. Louis has for years ranked among the most dangerous cities in the U.S., and 2020 was among the worst. Police recorded 262 homicides last year, the most since 267 in 1993, when the population was substantially larger.
The city has already recorded at least 20 killings in 2021, slightly ahead of last year's pace.