On the afternoon of May 21, 2014, 17-year-old Darrah Lane was shot and killed in a car parked in a Florissant strip mall parking lot on New Halls Ferry Road during what police say began as a marijuana transaction. Her 27-year-old boyfriend, Leon Davis, was also shot and died at the scene after an argument in the vehicle about price and quantity escalated. A passenger in the back seat produced a firearm and opened fire, striking both victims.

Police arrested 21-year-old Thomas Oates III in nearby Jennings and transported him to the Florissant Police Department. Oates reportedly confessed to shooting both victims but claimed he acted in self-defense, saying he believed Davis was reaching for a weapon and that Lane was trying to grab it. Prosecutors charged Oates with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action.

A St. Louis County jury convicted Oates in March 2016, rejecting the self-defense claim in relation to felony murder arising from the drug transaction; he received concurrent prison terms. Does anyone have information about Darrah Lane’s life or the people involved that could shed more light on what happened that day?