Man Sentenced to 20 Years For Killing Ex-Girlfriend at Her Front Door
August 26, 2025

ST. LOUIS, MO  (August 26, 2025) — Samuel Bailey, 74, pled guilty to second-degree murder, first-degree burglary, five counts of first-degree assault of a special victim, and unlawful possession of a firearm for the July 4, 2021, killing of his ex-girlfriend, 63-year-old Gail Keys, and the assault of five St. Louis City police officers who apprehended him following a standoff outside Keys’ home. Bailey was sentenced to 20 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections.


On July 4, 2021, Keys called 911 to report an unlawful entry at her home in the 5400 block of Ruskin in the City’s Mark Twain neighborhood, identifying the intruder as her ex-boyfriend. Responding officers accompanied Keys to her front door. As she opened the door and stepped inside, Bailey fired from inside the home, fatally wounding Keys. As officers were forming a perimeter, they confronted Bailey as he exited the rear of the home and took him into custody. Investigators recovered a seven-shot revolver from the gangway where Bailey was arrested and lifted Bailey’s palm print from plexiglass removed from a broken basement window.


“A person's home should be their refuge. She called for help, opened her own front door with police present, and the defendant opened fire. There is no true justice when a life is taken, but we hope today’s sentence provides a measure of justice to Ms. Keys’s surviving loved ones. There is only a measure of justice, and today that measure is 20 years,” said Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore.


Violent Crime Unit Supervisor, Adam Field, and Assistant Circuit Attorneys Aradhana Polley, and Samuel Morgan prosecuted the case.


Case number: 2122-CR01102-01.

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

January 9, 2026
ST. LOUIS, MO (January 09, 2026) — On Friday, a jury found Terron Young, 34, guilty of first-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, and unlawful use of a weapon in the killing of 32-year-old Anthony Jefferson. On February 2, 2024, Jefferson was shot outside an event space in the 4700 block of Martin Luther King Drive in St. Louis. Officers responded to a report of a shooting outside the club, where Jefferson was found suffering from gunshot wounds. He later succumbed to his injuries. Through a coordinated investigation led by SLMPD Homicide Detectives, with assistance from FBI task force officers, investigators determined that it was a targeted shooting. Young and Jefferson were involved in an ongoing feud. On the night of the murder, Young drove to the location from which the fatal shots were fired while co-defendants arrived in a separate vehicle. Surveillance footage captured Young’s vehicle fleeing the area from which the fatal shots were fired immediately after the shooting and traveling toward a co-defendant’s residence. Investigators recovered spent cartridge casings from a field near the location from which the fatal shots were fired. During a search of the co-defendant’s residence, investigators recovered ammunition consistent with the cartridge casings found at the scene. “This outcome reflects the extensive work of our prosecutors, along with SLMPD Homicide Detectives and FBI task force officers, who investigated this complex case and presented it to the jury over the course of a week-long trial,” said Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore. “As a result of an effective collaborative investigation by state and federal law enforcement, we were able to hold the defendant accountable for a cold-blooded targeted killing and obtain a measure of justice for the victim’s family.” Young faces mandatory life in prison without the possibility of parole. His sentencing will be set for a later date. Homicide Unit Deputy Chief Carolyn Chkautovich and Assistant Circuit Attorneys Nicholas Hirst and Ryan Dowd prosecuted the case. The defendant’s case number is 2422-CR00597-01.
Seal of the Circuit Attorney for the City of St. Louis, Missouri.
January 9, 2026
A St. Louis judge on Friday sentenced Robert Johnson, 59, to 28 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections for beating his wife, Nancy Johnson, to death.
Seal of the Circuit Attorney for the City of St. Louis, Missouri, featuring the state seal.
January 8, 2026
Ramon Chavez-Rodriguez, 25, was sentenced Thursday to 15 years for driving while intoxicated and causing a crash that killed 44-year-old SLMPD Officer David Lee.