On August 16, 2019, police in Saint Louis, Missouri, were called to the intersection of North Market and 11th streets after residents reported a foul odor emanating from a pickup truck that had been parked in the same spot for several days. Upon investigating the vehicle, officers made a grim discovery in the truck's bed. Hidden under a tarp were the bodies of two individuals who had suffered fatal gunshot wounds.
One of the victims was identified as Mark Kuhlenberg, a 62-year-old White male, while the other was identified as 41-year-old Toni Washburn.
Investigators quickly pieced together the relationships between the victims and a potential suspect. It was determined that Washburn had previously been in a relationship with a man named Willie Little, with whom she shared children. Kuhlenberg was identified as Washburn's new romantic partner. The investigation pointed toward a domestic motive, leading authorities to believe the killings were premeditated. Police alleged that the victims had been shot days prior to their discovery and left in the back of the truck, which then sat abandoned on the city street as the condition of the remains deteriorated.
Following the discovery, 63-year-old Willie Little was arrested and taken into custody. Prosecutors charged him with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action in connection with the deaths of Kuhlenberg and Washburn. He was held without bond as the case initially moved through the legal system. The circuit attorney's office handled the initial prosecution, and the gravity of the charges reflected the violent nature of the double homicide.
However, the legal proceedings took an unexpected turn several months later. By February 2020, Little had been incarcerated for nearly six months without a preliminary hearing or a grand jury indictment, a delay that his public defender argued violated Missouri Supreme Court rules regarding the timely processing of felony cases. Consequently, a St. Louis judge dismissed the murder and armed criminal action charges against Little, ruling that his prolonged detention without the necessary legal steps was a violation of his rights. The case against the suspect for the deaths of Mark Kuhlenberg and Toni Washburn was thrown out at that time due to these procedural failures.
