Full Breakdown
Fatal Highway Shooting of St. Louis Teen and Possible Link to Earlier Interstate Attack
By Drooid · · How we work
Investigation Findings
Federal court documents allege that a white Buick driven by Willie J. Herndon approached the I-170 and Midland Boulevard interchange in the early evening of a mid-October Thursday. Surveillance video shows the vehicle stopping, a door opening, and Herodn exiting a few minutes later. When Alyssa Wilson, a 17-year-old North County high-school student, passed the stopped car, a gunshot was captured on video and her car crashed. Ballistic evidence includes a cartridge case stamped “MaxxTech 23 7.62×39” recovered near the impact site and an ABC-15 rifle with a scope and matching ammunition found in the couple’s hotel room.
Suspect’s Criminal Background
According to the federal complaint, Herodn has a long record of vehicle-related offenses. In early 2001 he was convicted in Los Angeles of taking a vehicle without consent; a second conviction for possession of a stolen vehicle followed in late 2005. A 2015 Los Angeles conviction added receiving stolen property and felony burglary. The Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis identifies Herodn as a resident of Arlington, Texas, though the timing of his move from California is unclear.
Potential Link to Earlier Interstate-55 Shooting
Separate court filings connect Herodn’s vehicle to a shooting on Interstate-55 that occurred three days earlier. Surveillance footage captured a white SUV leaving the scene shortly after a single gunshot struck a vehicle on Bates Avenue. The same Buick seen on I-170 was recorded in the vicinity about half an hour before that incident. A cartridge case recovered at the I-55 site bears the identical “MaxxTech 23 7.62×39” headstamp found at Wilson’s murder scene. Laboratory testing to confirm whether both cases were fired from the same firearm is still pending.
Ongoing Legal Proceedings
Herodn was charged at the state level with first-degree murder and armed criminal action for Wilson’s death, and federally charged in the Southern District of Illinois with felon-in-possession of a firearm. He and his wife, Taiya Herodn, were arrested shortly after the shooting; investigators recovered the rifle and ammunition from their hotel room. The case remains under investigation, with additional forensic analysis expected to determine the full scope of Herodn’s alleged involvement in the earlier Interstate-55 shooting.