In the summer of 2016, a series of violent events unfolded in St. Louis, culminating in the death of 37-year-old Patrick Wilhite. On the evening of July 16, Wilhite and a 24-year-old woman went to meet a man at the intersection of North Spring Avenue and Sullivan Avenue. Around 9 p.m., their meeting turned tragic when both were shot in the neck. Patrick Wilhite, a Black male, succumbed to his injuries, his life cut short in a sudden act of violence.
The investigation into Wilhite's death soon connected his case to a string of other recent homicides in the area. The assailant was identified as Brandon J. Harris, who was 35 years old at the time. Harris's violent spree included the murders of several other individuals in a short period. Just two days before Wilhite's death, on July 14, 2016, Harris had killed 32-year-old Travis Jones in his St. Louis apartment.
His deadly actions continued after Wilhite's murder, with the shooting deaths of 35-year-old Dana Robinson and 37-year-old Antonio C. Harris during an armed robbery on July 20, 2016, in Castle Point.
Brandon Harris was eventually apprehended and faced multiple charges for his crimes. In connection with the deaths of Patrick Wilhite and Travis Jones, Harris was initially charged with first-degree murder. In a plea deal, he pleaded guilty to reduced counts of second-degree murder, robbery, and other charges. In February 2020, he was sentenced to another life term in prison for these killings. This was in addition to the six concurrent life sentences he had received in November 2019 for the murders of Dana Robinson and Antonio C. Harris, to which he had also pleaded guilty.
