Samuel Spires

In May 2018, Samuel Spires was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy and a gun charge. The charges stemmed from his involvement with two other men in a 2015 triple murder in St. Louis’s Dutchtown neighborhood, which prosecutors said was connected to the collection of drug debts.

Two and a half years later, on the afternoon of December 9, 2020, Spires himself became a victim of gun violence. The 50-year-old Black man was shot in the Mark Twain neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. A second man was also wounded in the shooting and was initially reported to be in critical condition. Samuel Spires did not survive his injuries. A friend later remembered his "amazing smile" on a memorial page.

Police investigated the double shooting and soon identified a suspect in the killing. Authorities arrested Demond M. Stewart, a 33-year-old resident of St. Louis, in connection with the incident.

Following the arrest, the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office charged Stewart with first-degree murder and armed criminal action for his role in the fatal shooting. He was subsequently ordered held in jail without bond as he awaited legal proceedings.

The case against Demond Stewart eventually went before a St. Louis jury. After hearing the evidence presented at trial, the jury returned a guilty verdict, convicting him in the murder of Samuel Spires.