On August 11, 1998, a lifelong criminal named Marcellus Williams was looking for a house to rob in a gated community in University City, Missouri.
By that point, Williams already had several prior criminal convictions, including for robbery and burglary. He shouldn’t have been on the streets at all, but apparently a judge let him out of jail so that he could commit more crimes and victimize more people. And that’s exactly why he was in University City on August 11.
When Marcellus Williams knocked on the door of a home owned by a 42-year-old journalist named Felicia Gayle, no one answered. So Williams broke a window and let himself in. After he noticed that someone on the second floor was taking a shower, Williams went downstairs to the kitchen, grabbed a butcher knife, and waited. When Gayle emerged from the shower, Marcellus Williams stabbed her 43 times, including seven separate…
