901 S.W. 2d 886 (Mo.banc 1995)

Case Facts:  On Friday, February 2, 1990, Storey became upset over his pending divorce. After finishing all of his beer, he decided to steal money for more beer from Ms. Frey, a special education teacher, who lived in a neighboring apartment. He climbed her balcony and entered an unlocked sliding glass door. He stole her car keys, entered her bedroom, and, in his words, “struggled” with her.

Ms. Frey died of blood loss and asphyxiation from two neck wounds, which cut through both of her jugular veins, her airway, her esophagus, and into her spine. Before she lost consciousness, she had her eyelid torn off and suffered injuries to her forehead, nose, cheeks, scalp, lips, and tongue. She also had defensive wounds to her arms and hand. Ms. Frey suffered an abrasion on her right knee, a six-inch stab wound to her abdomen, four internal impact injuries to her head, and five fractured ribs. Storey struck Ms. Frey a minimum of twenty times before cutting her throat to the spine.

The next day he returned to her apartment, wiped it down, scrubbed Ms. Frey’s fingernails, and attempted to remove any other incriminating evidence. When her body was found, she was lying face down in a pool of blood, naked below the waist, with her arms behind her back. The walls were splattered with blood, and her shirt had a tennis shoe imprint on it. The police found Storey’s bloody palm print in the room. After searching the dumpster, the police also found Ms. Frey’s briefcase along with a paper bag containing a bloody t-shirt, a tank-top, and a pair of white gloves. Ms. Frey’s blood was on the gloves, and Storey’s blood was on the t-shirt. Storey’s sneakers also had blood on them.