Jefferson County man charged with murder, sex crimes in Catholic Supply store attack

[Pitt Gorilla]

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...5b9265ae3.html

ST. LOUIS COUNTY • A 53-year-old Jefferson County man with no significant criminal record has been charged with 17 crimes in the sexual assault of two women and the killing of a third at a Catholic Supply store on Manchester Road on Monday.

Thomas Bruce, of Geranium Drive in the Antonia area, was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder and multiple counts of sodomy, armed criminal action, kidnapping, burglary and tampering with evidence. He is being held without bail.

Bruce entered the store on Monday afternoon pretending to be a customer, left, and then re-entered with a gun, charges say. He ordered the three women in the store to the back of the store and made them take their clothes off at gunpoint. He forced two victims to perform sex acts at gunpoint, and tried to do the same with Jamie Schmidt, a customer from House Springs, killing her when she refused.

The charges say he then ordered the two other women, who were store employees, “to continue performing deviant sexual acts on him.”

At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch said a tip had led to the break in the case. He would not say whether Bruce had confessed or made any statements.

McCulloch said the tampering charge filed against Bruce was because he had disposed of clothing that was “ultimately recovered.”

He said police did not know why Bruce had targeted the store. “It seems to me that a guy like this saw an opportunity,” McCulloch said. “There were three women in the store alone.”

McCulloch also said that investigators had found no criminal history for Bruce.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said the crime was among the most heinous he had seen in his 32 years in law enforcement and was one that “shocked the senses.”

Catholic Supply’s president, Dan Stutte, said in a statement posted online: “We are deeply relieved that an arrest has been made. Our sincere thanks to the St. Louis County Police for its dedication and excellent work.”

St. Louis County police searched Bruce’s trailer home at the Quail Run Estates mobile home park in the Antonia area of Jefferson County where they arrested him early Wednesday. An American flag and a Gadsden “Don’t Tread on Me” flag waved on a pole outside.

Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department authorities said that deputies had not received any calls for service to Bruce’s home and that he had never been in their custody.

A neighbor said Bruce lived in the trailer with his wife. The neighbor, Kathy Schroeder, said she awoke Wednesday morning to about 100 police officers in her neighborhood. She watched officers carry several boxes out of Bruce’s home, and the skirts around the base of the trailer were removed as part of the search.

A rumor quickly spread that the search was linked to the Catholic Supply attack on Monday.

“It sent a chill through everybody,” said Schroeder, 45.

She said the couple had moved in earlier this year, about May.

In January 2017, Bruce and his wife, Diane, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in St. Louis, listing assets of about $92,000 and debts of nearly $159,000.

The bankruptcy was discharged in April 2017. Wells Fargo Bank foreclosed on the couple’s home in August, records show.

A brutal attack

Jamie Schmidt, 53, was a customer at the Catholic Supply at the time Bruce came in, charges say. A friend said she may have been there to buy supplies for a project to crochet rosaries for fellow parishioners at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in High Ridge, where she was in the choir.

She lived in House Springs, attended church in High Ridge and worked at St. Louis Community College in Wildwood as a secretarial assistant .

McCulloch said at the news conference that investigators had found no connections between Bruce and the three women who were in the store.

He said there had been a second customer in the store when Bruce first came in but that person left before Bruce allegedly returned and attacked the women inside.

“He left ostensibly to go get a credit card to come in and buy some stuff but, who knows why exactly, perhaps to go get his gun, but in any event came back in and fortunately another customer had just left the building or there would have been four people involved,” McCulloch said.

Asked whether prosecutors might seek the death penalty in the case, McCulloch said that “the aggravating circumstances are certainly there.” But he pointed out that the process of deciding whether to pursue that penalty was a long one and wouldn’t be completed before the end of the year, when his term of office ends.

“The next prosecutor will have to make that decision,” he said.

McCulloch and Belmar said the public responded to the police department’s plea for help in cracking the case by supplying hundreds of tips. They said evidence was still being tested and detectives continued to investigate whether Bruce might be linked to crimes elsewhere.

The description police sent out just after the Catholic Supply shooting seemed similar to the description of a man wanted in the slayings of two girls, Abigail “Abby” Williams, 13, and Liberty “Libby” Rose German, 14, both from Delphi, Ind., in February 2017.

Indiana State Police still are working that case.

“We’re aware of the similarities and we’ve been in contact with authorities there in St. Louis County,” said First Sgt. Jerry Holeman, who leads the investigation for the Indiana State Police. “But it is way too early to tell if this is the same” person, Holeman said.

Indiana authorities have distributed a photograph of a potential suspect in the Delphi case — a white male wearing blue jeans, a blue coat/jacket and a hoodie — who was seen near the trail where the girls’ bodies were found. They also distributed a sketch.

[HemiEd]

That story makes me sick at my stomach.

I wonder why the author of the story felt the need to include: "An American flag and a Gadsden “Don’t Tread on Me” flag waved on a pole outside."

[Discuss Thrower]

Originally Posted by HemiEd

That story makes me sick at my stomach.

I wonder why the author of the story felt the need to include: "An American flag and a Gadsden “Don’t Tread on Me” flag waved on a pole outside."

Makes me wonder too.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by HemiEd

That story makes me sick at my stomach.

I wonder why the author of the story felt the need to include: "An American flag and a Gadsden “Don’t Tread on Me” flag waved on a pole outside."

Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower

Makes me wonder too.

Maybe he was told something off the record the guy said?
A catholic supply store was picked at random? Too coincidental for me. Maybe some priest made him perform sex acts? But, maybe it could have been any store.

[lawrenceRaider]

Pretty obvious the agenda in including that info.

[JD10367]

Pics or GTFO

[Pablo]

Wonder what his handle was in DC.

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Maybe he was told something off the record the guy said?
A catholic supply store was picked at random? Too coincidental for me. Maybe some priest made him perform sex acts? But, maybe it could have been any store.

What the hell would a priest maybe making him perform sex acts have to do with flags?

[TLO]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Maybe he was told something off the record the guy said?
A catholic supply store was picked at random? Too coincidental for me. Maybe some priest made him perform sex acts? But, maybe it could have been any store.

Originally Posted by SAUTO

What the hell would a priest maybe making him perform sex acts have to do with flags?

[stumppy]

Buncha sick mofos in this world. Too bad this POS will end up living the rest of his life with a roof overhead, 3 meals a day and a bed. All paid for by us.

[Reerun_KC]

Originally Posted by stumppy

Buncha sick mofos in this world. Too bad this POS will end up living the rest of his life with a roof overhead, 3 meals a day and a bed. All paid for by us.

We should try to reform him and let him out in 2-4 years after some intense therapy.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by stumppy

Buncha sick mofos in this world. Too bad this POS will end up living the rest of his life with a roof overhead, 3 meals a day and a bed. All paid for by us.

I don't think guys like this do well in prison. He'll probably be someones bitch.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Maybe he was told something off the record the guy said?
A catholic supply store was picked at random? Too coincidental for me. Maybe some priest made him perform sex acts? But, maybe it could have been any store.

I thought that at first, because I thought it was at the Catholic Supply near me [across from the Ted Drewes on Chippewa]. But this was way out Manchester in the county. For those not familiar, analogizing to the KC metro, this is like someone from, say, Sedalia or Concordia, attacking someone at a store in Blue Springs.

Maybe he just decided to travel 'into the city' and stake out the nearest target of opportunity. This was a medium sized store with negligible foot traffic. The opposite of say a 7-11 with a small space with huge windows and lots of transient traffic. He went in and 'shopped' around when there were 4 people in the store, then returned when there were just 3.

[Demonpenz]

God hates flags

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by Demonpenz

God hates flags

So proud of you. Saw the recent climate report and are doing your part to recycle.