On the morning of September 5, 2014, twenty-five-year-old Steven Dent and his older brother, thirty-four-year-old James Dent, were fatally shot in the West End neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. The brothers had just finished working a night shift and were traveling home together on a city bus. After exiting the bus around 8:30 a.m., they were targeted by a gunman.
Police officers responding to the scene discovered James Dent lying on a sidewalk in the 1200 block of Goodfellow Boulevard, suffering from gunshot wounds to his upper torso. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Steven Dent was found nearby along a curb in the 5800 block of Julian Avenue, also having sustained fatal gunshot wounds to the upper torso.
For over two years, the double homicide remained unsolved as investigators searched for leads. A breakthrough eventually came when an eyewitness stepped forward to identify the shooter, providing critical information that revitalized the case. In January 2017, authorities charged twenty-six-year-old Derrie Williams with two counts of first-degree murder and armed criminal action. Williams was taken into custody on January 18, 2017, and held without bond while awaiting trial. Defense attorneys later argued that the police investigation was flawed and lacked DNA evidence connecting Williams to the crime scene, but the prosecution proceeded based on the witness testimony and available evidence.
In July 2018, a St. Louis jury returned a guilty verdict against Derrie Williams. He was convicted of first-degree murder for the death of one brother, second-degree murder for the other, and two counts of armed criminal action. Following the conviction, Williams was sentenced in September 2018 to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The victim’s mother, Valerie Dent, who had founded the organization St. Louis Mothers in Charge following the loss of her sons, expressed relief at the sentencing, stating that the conclusion of the legal process brought her a measure of peace and ensured the perpetrator could no longer harm the community.
