In the early morning hours of December 9, 2016, a discovery was made in the 5500 block of Etzel Avenue in St. Louis. Responding to a report of a 'suspicious auto' at 2:32 a.m., police found 31-year-old David Michael Bewig Jr. inside a car, deceased from a gunshot wound to the head. Originally from Pevely, Missouri, Bewig was a man who enjoyed the outdoors, including fishing and camping. He also had a passion for music and was actively involved in promoting local rap and hip-hop artists. The day before his death, he had traveled to St. Louis to make arrangements for his upcoming birthday party, including paying the DJ.
For nearly two years, the case of David Bewig's death remained a source of pain and uncertainty for his family, who were so close-knit that his father reported having a bad feeling on the night of his son's death. Investigators and Bewig's family long suspected that the person responsible was someone known to him. The family's grief was compounded by the fact that they had not yet held a memorial for him, holding out for justice.
A significant breakthrough in the investigation came in December 2018, when 33-year-old Darin Schmidt, also of Pevely, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in connection with Bewig's death. The arrest came almost exactly two years after the discovery of Bewig's body. According to the probable cause statement, the case against Schmidt was built on the testimony of four witnesses who told detectives that Schmidt had admitted to them on three separate occasions that he had killed Bewig. Following his arrest, Schmidt was held on a $500,000 cash-only bond.
