ST. LOUIS, MO  (January 09, 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.

A jury convicted Johnson in November 2025 of second-degree murder for a violent assault he carried out on March 17, 2018, inside the couple's home in the 3000 block of Itaska Street in the City's Mount Pleasant neighborhood. Nancy Johnson died on April 2, 2018, after never regaining consciousness from her injuries.

Johnson repeatedly beat his wife, causing extensive bruising, ligature marks consistent with strangulation, and multiple traumatic brain injuries. The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide.

Police questioned Johnson at the hospital following the assault. After waiving his Miranda rights, Johnson initially told officers his wife fell out of bed. When investigators confronted him with medical findings, he admitted that he and his wife had been drinking and arguing and that he knocked her to the floor multiple times. Officers documented bruising on Johnson's hand during the investigation.

"This was a sustained act of violence that ended the life of Nancy Johnson, who suffered repeated and fatal injuries at the hands of her husband," said Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore. "While no sentence can account for this tragic loss of life, we hope the court's sentence provides some closure to Mrs. Johnson's family after this horrific act of violence.”

Assistant Circuit Attorneys Grant Simon, Allan Kaiser, and Mikayla Jones prosecuted the case.

The defendant’s case number is 1822-CR00960-01.