On Saturday, November 25, 2017, the life of 26-year-old male Carlton Eugene Ford Jr. came to a violent end in St. Charles, Missouri. The incident occurred in the early evening at an apartment complex located in the 400 block of San Juan Drive. Police officers were dispatched to the scene around 5:30 p.m. following reports of a home invasion and shooting. Upon arrival, they discovered Ford lying injured in the breezeway of the building.
He was transported to a local hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries.
The investigation quickly focused on the resident of the apartment, 31-year-old Karen E. Reisinger. Reisinger initially claimed that she had acted in self-defense, telling authorities that Ford had attempted to force his way into her home while brandishing a handgun. However, police inquiries unveiled a more complex and premeditated sequence of events. Investigators determined that earlier in the day, Ford and another individual had allegedly entered Reisinger’s unlocked apartment, demanding drugs and money. During this earlier confrontation, Reisinger stated that Ford had pepper-sprayed her and her daughter before leaving with cash and marijuana. This initial incident was not immediately reported to law enforcement.
When Ford returned to the apartment that evening, the situation escalated fatally. According to police reports and probable cause statements, Ford knocked on the door, prompting Reisinger to retrieve a firearm while her boyfriend unlocked the entrance. As the door opened, Reisinger allegedly fired a shot at Ford, causing him to fall to the ground. Authorities stated that she then fired a second round into him while he was lying defenseless on the floor. Reisinger reportedly admitted to detectives that she was angry about the earlier pepper-spray incident and stated that Ford 'needed to die.' It was also revealed that the weapon used in the shooting had been obtained illegally during a drug transaction.
Following the shooting, Karen E. Reisinger was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. She was held at the St. Charles County jail on a $250,000 cash-only bond. At the time of the violence, two young children were present in the home but were physically unharmed and subsequently placed in the care of family members. Reisinger's boyfriend, who was also present, corroborated parts of the self-defense claim regarding the earlier robbery but the physical evidence and Reisinger's own admissions regarding the second shot contradicted the justification for the lethal force used when Ford returned.
