Trust Me, I'm A Murderer

Festus sits in Jefferson County in eastern Missouri, about forty minutes from St. Louis and close to the Mississippi River. It grew up beside Crystal City, the two of them known locally as the Twin Cities, after silica sand found on the east side of the Plattin Creek in 1868 turned out to be ideal for making glass. Crystal City was a company town, owned and run by the plate glass works, with no saloons and no private lots until 1906. Festus, once called Tanglefoot, took its present name in 1887, supposedly after a local businesswoman opened a Bible and settled on the first proper name she found, Festus, from Acts 25:1. By 2020 it had a population of 11,910, a median household income of about $50,000 and a median home cost of $170,200.

this part of the story is covered for now He went to St. Pius High School in Festus, where he ran track, took Latin and advanced mathematics and played football as punter, place kicker and tackle. Classmates remembered a boastful, flashy young man who cultivated influential people. He married his high-school sweetheart, Mary Eileen Workmeister, in November 1965, five months after graduation, and they had five children.

details of the account remain covered until revealed Within weeks he fired nine of the town's twelve police officers for incompetence and corruption. He was proud of driving out a motorcycle gang and cracking down on young people cruising the main streets, and he improved pay and equipment. In 1975 he obtained permission to run a private security firm, Scientific Security Inc, on the side. It prospered. In March 1980 the family moved into a fifteen-room house with a large pool, and by 1984 the company had grossed four and a half million dollars. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

His record was never clean. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed He won no-bid state contracts to guard river access areas, and his company was paid $800,000 to guard the dioxin-contaminated ghost town of Times Beach. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it His parents owned the Crystal Hornet hamburger joint. He married Patricia Winfrey on April 12th, 1974, and joined the Festus police in the mid-1970s. During that time he claimed he had been shot in the chest while investigating a suspicious vehicle at a radio station, prompting a manhunt, then resigned three weeks later after admitting he had shot his own bulletproof vest. this part of the story is covered for now

details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it Todd, however, was still married with two children, and in February 1990 he started a second affair, with Christin Carrow. this part of the story is covered for now

details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it The prosecutor told him to contact the sheriff's detectives. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it He then telephoned the sheriff and said, 'I had to shoot him,' claiming Todd had crouched behind a car with a gun. this part of the story is covered for now Chief of detectives Wally Gansman arrived at 3.06pm and called in outside help for the autopsy.

The investigation soon undermined the self-defence story. The first shot had struck Todd in the back of the head and the second in the face as he lay on the floor. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now SSI also stood to collect $1.5 million from two key man insurance policies on Todd.

details of the account remain covered until revealed The prosecutor argued that the case showed what was wrong with law enforcement in places like Jefferson County, where who you know and how much money you have decide whether you are prosecuted. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

On August 23rd, 1994, sheriff's deputies arrived at his house with a warrant. He was in shorts, a T-shirt and slippers, and they let him go upstairs to change, uncuffed, because he was cooperative, walked with a cane and had MS. In his bedroom, while an officer stood about seven feet away, he reached into a sock drawer, pulled out a snub-nosed .357 revolver and shot himself in the head. He was 47. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed Tim Todd, who was 33, is buried in the Herculaneum cemetery in Jefferson County.