Jury Finds Woman Found Guilty in 2021 Slashing
April 10, 2024

ST. LOUIS, MO (April 10, 2024) — A jury found Janaya L. Neither, 25, guilty of second-degree assault and armed criminal action in the slashing of Tierra Gordon, 26, on August 7, 2021, in the 1900 block of Washington Avenue in the Downtown West neighborhood. Both women were dancers from out of state who had come to St. Louis to earn money working at a local club.


At about 6 a.m. on the day of the attack, a city street cleaner encountered Gordon covered with blood and crying in the middle of the intersection of 20th Street and Washington Avenue and called police. She had been slashed multiple times in the face and body with a serrated kitchen knife and was later treated at a local hospital.



Police followed a trail of blood back to an Airbnb in the 1900 block of Washington Avenue that the two women had stayed in. After attacking Gordon, Neither and a friend fled the state.


A jury determined a sentence of seven years in prison for the assault and five years in prison for the armed criminal action. A judge will conduct a hearing on June 11, 2024, to finalize the sentence.


The case was prosecuted by Assistant Circuit Attorneys Rob Huq and Michael Ware.


“The victim of this brutal assault will be able to move forward with her life knowing that her attacker will be behind bars for years to come,” said Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore. 


###

For Immediate Release

For more information contact:

Amber Raub

Public Information Officer

St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office

rauba@stlouiscao.org

314-589-6233 (office)

314-312-9912 (cell)

More News

Seal of the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office, with text:
October 28, 2025
Anwar Shands, 43, was convicted of first-degree murder and armed criminal action for the 2020 killing of his cousin Mallam Amir Tifah in St. Louis’ Lewis Place.
Seal of the Circuit Attorney for the City of St. Louis, Missouri.
October 20, 2025
Derrick Smith, 41, was sentenced to life in prison plus 10 years for the 2024 fatal shooting of his girlfriend, Norma Reano, in St. Louis’s Dutchtown neighborhood.
Seal of the Circuit Attorney for the City of St. Louis, Missouri, featuring state seal and text.
October 16, 2025
Judge sentenced Jeffrey Leslie, 47, to 25 years for a failed 2023 St. Louis robbery that left accomplice Alonzo Jones dead and another victim injured in Hyde Park.