In the winter of 2021, the life of 28-year-old Tatyana Smiley came to a violent end in Saint-Louis, Missouri. On the morning of December 14th, police responded to reports of shots fired in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood. Inside a residence on the same block where she lived, they discovered Tatyana in a bedroom, having sustained fatal gunshot wounds.
Her death marked a grim turn in a story that was already steeped in violence and legal troubles.
At the time she was killed, Tatyana was not just a resident of the community; she was a woman awaiting her own day in court for the most serious of crimes. She was out on bail, charged with first-degree murder, arson, and armed criminal action in connection with the June 2020 death of 72-year-old Charles Watkins. Authorities had alleged that she was responsible for shooting Watkins and then setting his home ablaze with gasoline. The legal proceedings in this case were still pending when her life was cut short, adding another layer of complexity to the investigation into her own demise.
The investigation into Tatyana's shooting quickly led to a suspect. Police arrested 50-year-old Consandra Perry in connection with the killing. On December 17, 2021, the Circuit Attorney's Office formally charged Perry with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. While an arrest was made, law enforcement officials did not immediately release a motive or confirm if the fatal shooting of Tatyana was in any way connected to the murder case in which she herself was a defendant. The incident left a tangled web of two separate homicides, leaving the community with more questions than answers.
