ST. LOUIS, MO (January 10, 2025) — Eric Jordan Williams, 21, was sentenced to life without parole plus 45 years in prison for fatally shooting 20-year-old Joyce Freeman on November 23, 2020, in the 3900 block of Minnesota Avenue near the border of the city's Dutchtown and Marine Villa neighborhoods.

Freeman and her boyfriend were preparing to take her four-day-old son to a doctor’s appointment when a Nissan Sentra drove by them and fired shots at their car. Freeman and her boyfriend tried to drive away, but the Nissan reappeared on Broadway with two people hanging out of the passenger side windows firing shots at Freeman's car.

After being shot, Freeman began to pass out and lose her eyesight. Her boyfriend grabbed the steering wheel, pulled into a parking lot and called police. Freeman died a short time later at a local hospital. Her son and boyfriend were not injured in the shooting.

Williams was 17 at the time of the shooting. In October of 2024, a jury found Williams guilty of second-degree murder, first-degree assault, and multiple gun charges related to the shooting. Williams had been tried previously in April of 2024, but the jury could not reach a verdict.

A co-defendant in the case, Deyontez Huntley, 23, was acquitted on similar charges in March of 2024. The third co-defendant, Steven Noah Washington, was convicted in November of 2022.

Williams' case was prosecuted by Special Assistant Circuit Attorney Marlo Lamb, who serves as First Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in St. Francois County, and Assistant Circuit Attorney Dominic Cusumano.

Williams' case number in Case.net is 2122-CR00176-01.

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