On a Monday afternoon in November 2018, a customer at a Catholic supply store in Ballwin, Missouri, was forced into a back room by an armed man along with two other women. The assailant made sexual demands; two women complied under duress, but 53-year-old Jamie Schmidt of House Springs refused and was shot in the head. She was taken to a local hospital in critical condition and died later that day.

Schmidt was an active member of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in High Ridge, sang soprano in the parish choir, and painted murals for the church. She had gone to the store that day to buy materials to make rosaries for an upcoming retreat. The suspect was described as a heavyset white man in his late 40s or early 50s wearing an Irish-style hat; the community endured a two-day manhunt before a 53-year-old former pastor from Imperial, Missouri, Thomas Bruce, was arrested and later charged in the case.

Bruce was indicted on multiple counts, including first-degree murder, sodomy, kidnapping, burglary, and armed criminal action. If anyone has information about Jamie or the attack, please share what is known with investigators.