In the early morning hours of September 16, 2019, the life of 30-year-old Eboni Brown, a Black female from Riverview, Missouri, was tragically cut short in her own home. In a devastating turn of events, she was discovered with a fatal gunshot wound to the back of her head. The incident unfolded while her children were asleep in another room of the house.
The sound of a gunshot startled the sleeping children.
One of the children went to investigate and made a harrowing discovery, finding a man standing over their mother's body. The man was identified as 31-year-old Anderson Stallings Jr., of Florissant, who was described as a friend of Brown. Responding to a call about an assault, officers from the Riverview Police Department arrived at the home on Thrift Avenue around 2:15 a.m. They found Brown with the gunshot wound and she was rushed to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Police arrested Stallings, who was found on the front porch of the home. He claimed that he had been awakened by the gunshot and that an unknown shooter had fled the scene. However, based on the witness account from one of Brown's children, Stallings was taken into custody. During their investigation at the scene, police also discovered 172 plastic bags of methamphetamine and an assault rifle inside the house.
Anderson Stallings Jr. was subsequently charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in connection with Eboni Brown's death. He was also hit with federal charges for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine due to the significant quantity of drugs found in the home. The motive for the shooting was not immediately clear to investigators, though they confirmed that Stallings and Brown were friends. Stallings was held on a $500,000 cash-only bond as he awaited legal proceedings.
