In the summer of 2000, the St. Louis area was gripped by a tragedy that would take years to fully unravel. On the morning of July 31, the body of Mary E. Shields, a 61-year-old African-American woman from East St. Louis, Illinois, was discovered in a desolate patch of weeds behind a factory building. The industrial area, located near 20th Street and Piggott Avenue, was largely deserted, which contributed to a delay in finding her.
The initial investigation into her death immediately pointed towards foul play, launching a homicide investigation.
The authorities determined that Mary Shields had been strangled. The state in which her body was found suggested to investigators that she may have been killed at a different location before being moved to the industrial site where she was ultimately discovered. Detectives began the arduous task of canvassing the area for any potential witnesses and trying to piece together the final moments of Ms. Shields' life, though early leads were scarce.
For a time, the case remained a grim, unanswered question. However, the investigation eventually led authorities to a suspect who was subsequently charged and convicted in connection with her death. In a separate and darker turn of events, Mary Shields' name would later be linked to the horrific crimes of Maury Travis, a serial killer who was active in the St. Louis region. Travis was suspected in the murders of at least 12 women between 2000 and 2002. Investigators found a torture chamber, stun guns, and videotapes of him abusing and killing his victims in his suburban Ferguson home. Before he could be brought to trial for the string of murders he was accused of, Maury Travis took his own life by hanging himself in his jail cell. The resolution of the case, though shadowed by the perpetrator's suicide, brought a degree of closure to a community that had been haunted by the loss of Mary Shields and the other victims of his violent spree.
