In the early morning hours of July 9, 2014, a domestic dispute in a north St. Louis apartment building escalated into a double homicide, claiming the lives of 25-year-old Jessica Thompson and a good samaritan, 32-year-old Tony Jordan, Jr. The tragic events began to unfold around 12:50 a.m. when Thompson's boyfriend, Adrian Houston, forced his way into her apartment in the 5800 block of Cabanne Avenue and started to physically assault her.
Jordan, a groundskeeper at the apartment complex,
heard the violent struggle and bravely intervened, attempting to protect Thompson from her attacker. Following this intervention, Houston temporarily left the premises. In that brief window of calm, a frightened Thompson called 911 to plead for police assistance. However, a critical error by the 911 dispatcher sent the responding officers to an incorrect address approximately one block away from the actual location of the emergency.
While police were trying to locate the non-existent address, an enraged Adrian Houston returned to the apartment complex. He first encountered Tony Jordan in the courtyard and fatally shot him. Houston then proceeded to Jessica Thompson's apartment, where he shot and killed her as well. By the time law enforcement arrived at the correct address, it was too late. The delay in their arrival, caused by the dispatcher's mistake, proved to be fatal for both Thompson and Jordan.
In the aftermath of the killings, Adrian Houston of University City was arrested and subsequently charged with two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of his girlfriend and the man who had tried to help her. The tragic circumstances surrounding the delayed police response led to an internal investigation, and the dispatcher was suspended with pay. The families of both Jessica Thompson and Tony Jordan later filed a lawsuit against the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, alleging that the deaths could have been prevented had the 911 call been handled correctly.
