In July 2019, the community of St. Louis, Missouri, was shaken by a grim discovery inside a vacant apartment in the northern part of the county. African American resident Rodney E. Holt, aged 37, was found deceased alongside four other men in what investigators would later describe as a targeted and violent robbery gone wrong. The bodies were located in a small apartment complex near Dellwood, a discovery made after an individual who had been with the group earlier returned to the scene and
found the victims unresponsive. Police responded to the horrific scene on July 6, 2019, launching a major homicide investigation into the deaths of Holt and his companions, who ranged in age from 40 to 65.
Detectives quickly pieced together a timeline suggesting that the motive for the killings was robbery. According to court documents and police statements, the victims were inside the vacant unit when they were approached by armed assailants demanding money and drugs. The encounter escalated into a massacre, leaving all five men dead from gunshot wounds. The investigation revealed that the perpetrators had forcibly attempted to rob the group before opening fire. The nature of the crime, involving multiple victims and a brazen motive, drew significant attention from local law enforcement and media outlets as authorities worked to identify those responsible.
In the days following the discovery, police identified and apprehended two suspects believed to be responsible for the slayings. Terrance Wesley, 29, was taken into custody following a standoff with police that lasted several hours near the scene of the crime. A second suspect, 30-year-old Anthony Watkins Jr., was arrested at police headquarters. Prosecutors subsequently charged both men with five counts of first-degree murder, five counts of attempted robbery, and multiple counts of armed criminal action. The charges alleged that the two men had targeted the victims, leading to the tragic loss of Rodney E. Holt and the four other men present that day.
