On the morning of December 20, 2023, police in Country Club Hills, St. Louis County, Missouri, responded just after 6:00 a.m. to a shooting in the 7400 block of West Florissant Avenue. Officers found 43-year-old Brandon Cotton in a parking lot with apparent gunshot wounds; emergency responders pronounced him dead at the scene.

Surveillance footage recovered from the area shows a suspect approach Cotton, brandish a firearm and engage in a physical altercation before shooting Cotton multiple times. The video further depicts the assailant rifling Cotton’s pockets, taking an item from a bag the victim carried, and fleeing in a vehicle with distinctive damage. That vehicle was later found abandoned and badly burned, indicating an apparent attempt to destroy evidence.

Investigators identified a suspect and on December 24, 2023, St. Louis County Police arrested 30-year-old James Stampley. Prosecutors charged him with first-degree murder, robbery and tampering with physical evidence; the surveillance video showing the robbery was cited as important to the case.

Does anyone have information about Cotton’s movements that morning or about the burned getaway vehicle?