Historical June 1977 police column. Allegations, identification and arrests are attributed to the original report; arrests are not convictions.
In the spring of 1940, in the town of Birmingham, Alabama, a son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Jessie Earl McClanahan. Twelve years later in the spring of 1952, in St. Charles, Missouri 572 miles from Birmingham, Alabama, a son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Kelly. Now in 1977, the aforementioned children from different cultural backgrounds, have grown into leading citizens in the city of St. Louis, practicing the profession of law enforcement. These officers, Detectives Jessie McClanahan, and Laird Kelly are assigned to Team Policing in the Seventh District. In the month of April of this year, they teamed together in unraveling one of the most complex crimes in the history of the Seventh District.
On April 11, 1977 approximately 11:00 a.m., Officers McClanahan and Kelly recevied a radio assignment to a West End address to investigate a woman screaming. Upon the officers arrival, they were informed by the victim that her home had been burglarized. Thousands of dollars of personal items were stolen, and before the culprits left, they had beaten her severely.
The officers immediately offered medical attention for the victim, and broadcast the description of the wanted subjects. While dusting for fingerprints in the victim’s home, they were able to lift latent prints on various articles the suspects touched. As the officers continued their investigation, the description of one of the wanted subjects struck a bell with them: They remembered coming in contact weeks ago with a subject fitting that description, supposedly residing somewhere in the immediate vicinity of the crime.
In the evening of April 11th, the pieces started to fall in place when the identity of the subject was learned, and further, that the subject they suspected of the crime had been arrested that evening by officers of another police district for stealing an auto, abduction and armed robbery. Officers McClanahan and Kelly then contacted their victim, where she viewed a line up positively identifying the suspect as one of the subjects that had assaulted and robbed her. The fingerprints of the subject and the prints lifted in the home of the victim were identified as being one in the same. Through the officers investigation, startling information was received: That the subject arrested might have been implicated in the homicide of a man in March of this year. Further investigation by officers McClanahan and Kelly, revealed that the latent prints found on the homicide victim’s automobile matched their arrested subjects prints.
In solving these crimes, Detectives Mc Clanahan and Kelly are saluted by each member of the St. Louis Police Department, and the community for outstanding police work in staying with, and sweating out their investigation until it was completed.
REMEMBER MY FRIENDS ONE WORTHWHILE TASK CARRIED TO A SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION IS WORTH HALF-A-HUNDRED HALFFINISHED TASKS.
Originally published in The Paper, June 1977.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Archival transcription note: Printed recevied retained.
Original source: SD_Times1977_06.pdf, printed page(s) 4; PDF page(s) 4.
