Murder of Felicia Gayle
Felicia "Lisha" Anne Picus was an American journalist murdered during a burglary at her home in University City, Missouri, on August 11, 1998. Gayle, a 42-year-old reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, was found dead, having been stabbed up to 43 times with a butcher's knife taken from her kitchen.
Marcellus Williams was charged with and convicted of Gayle's murder. Prosecutors presented evidence that included testimonies of Williams' former cellmate, girlfriend, and a man who testified to Williams selling him Gayle's stolen laptop. Other evidence included Williams's possession of items stolen from Gayle's home. In August 2001, Williams was sentenced to death.
On appeal, he raised several issues, including claims of errors in evidentiary rulings, jury instructions, and victim impact testimony. He also challenged the use of his prior criminal history and alleged improper prosecutorial comments during closing arguments. The death sentence was controversial, as DNA evidence had been claimed to prove his innocence, and Gayle's family repeatedly stated they did not want Williams executed. The court rejected these arguments, finding no abuse of discretion by the trial court and that the additional DNA on the murder weapon was the prosecutor's which adhered when handling the evidence. The Missouri Supreme Court rejected Williams's appeal, concluding that the verdict was neither disproportionate nor influenced by prejudice. They concluded that there were sufficient statutory aggravating circumstances, such as the brutality of the crime and Williams' prior convictions. The court affirmed both the conviction and the death sentence. Williams was executed on September 24, 2024, amid ongoing protests.
Background
Felicia Gayle
Felicia Anne Gayle was born on February 6, 1956, in Rockford, Illinois, where she was also raised. She graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in journalism before working as a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where she stayed until 1992. She left the newspaper to pursue more philanthropy and volunteer work, which included mentoring and tutoring disadvantaged children. In 1979, she married Dr. Daniel Picus, who led the interventional radiology department at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.Marcellus Williams
Marcellus Williams was born on December 30, 1968, in South Bend, Indiana. At the age of five, he and his mother, along with his two brothers, moved to St. Louis, Missouri. Growing up in a troubled and impoverished household, Williams faced early exposure to alcohol, drugs, and guns, and was subjected to violent sexual and physical abuse from family members. His parents abandoned him, and criminal behavior and substance abuse were prevalent in his family. The defense said that after becoming a father and marrying a single mother with a daughter, Williams was profoundly affected by the death of his older brother in 1997, who had served as a father figure. That same year, he burglarized a home and was incarcerated for armed robbery of a donut shop in 1998. In total, Williams had sixteen criminal convictions prior to his murder trial: second degree burglary and stealing over $150 in 1988; second degree assault in 1988; second degree burglary in 1988; two counts each of second degree burglary and stealing over $150 in 1991; first degree robbery, armed criminal action, and unlawful use of a weapon in 2000; and first degree robbery, armed criminal action, stealing a motor vehicle, and two counts of false imprisonment in 2000.While in prison, Williams studied Islam and wrote poetry. He was also disciplined over 100 times while incarcerated, including verbal and physical altercations with inmates and corrections officers, and a threat to kill a corrections officer at the St. Louis City Workhouse in 1999.
Murder
Gayle's body was discovered by her husband at her home on the evening of August 11, 1998. Police arrived to the scene at around 8 p.m., officers found Gayle in a fetal position with her left side covered in blood. She had been stabbed up to 43 times and a large butcher's knife was found lodged in her neck. She also had stab wounds to her back, thigh, and two more in her neck, authorities described defensive wounds to her hands and arms including a large gash in her right elbow. Her purse, jacket, and her husband's Macintosh computer were stolen. Investigators noted in the initial police report that this came amidst a burglary spree in the neighborhood.Investigation and trial
In May 1999, Gayle's family announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case. Two individuals, Henry Cole and Laura Asaro, named Marcellus Scott Williams as the culprit. Cole received a $5,000 reward for his testimony, while Asaro did not request any reward for coming forward. Williams had an extensive criminal record. Cole volunteered that Williams had made a jailhouse confession to him when both were in jail on charges unrelated to the murder. Cole had already been released before volunteering his information. Williams had started serving a 20-year sentence for robbing a donut shop. Laura Asaro, the girlfriend of Williams at the time of the crime, gave testimony that Williams had confessed to her and detailed what had happened. Asaro testified that she found a purse with Gayle's identification in Williams' car. She also testified that she saw scratches on Williams' neck, blood on his shirt, and a laptop in his car. Unlike Cole's deposition, which was compatible with news reports, she is said to have provided details that had not been mentioned in the public accounts of the crime.Prosecutors described physical evidence at the crime scene itself as inconclusive, as a shoeprint, fingerprints, and hair found at the scene did not match Williams. A knife found at the scene had traces of DNA, but due to the killer wearing gloves, it only matched those of prosecution team members who handled it after it had been forensically tested and found to have no fingerprints on it.
A search of Williams' car turned up a St. Louis Post-Dispatch ruler and calculator that had belonged to Gayle. A laptop stolen from Gayle was also recovered from a man who testified that Williams had sold the victim's laptop to him.
Williams was convicted of first-degree murder in 2001, and received a death sentence.