Spanish Lake man helped his neighbor repeatedly, and died for it

He gave him small jobs like mowing the lawn when the man was out of work. He offered free rides to pick up medication or visit family. He even gave him money to replace a flat tire.

Shaw, 63, was repaid with increasingly violent demands.

Then, one spring day four years ago, the neighbor came to Shaw’s Spanish Lake house and banged on the door, asking for money, again, according to court testimony this week. Shaw called 911.

“I want him arrested because I don’t know what’s going to happen if he isn’t,” Shaw said on the call, played in court.

“I knew this was going to happen,” Shaw can be heard muttering to himself.

A few weeks later, Shaw disappeared.

On Wednesday, a St. Louis County jury found the next-door neighbor, Keith Hill, 43, guilty of first degree murder in the beating death of Shaw. Investigators said Shaw was struck at least 17 times in the head with a lamp. His car, wallet and cash were all stolen.

“What a brutal way to kill somebody,” St. Louis County assistant prosecuting attorney John Schlesinger said in closing arguments Wednesday.

Hill’s public defender, Paige Bremner, argued her client was an easy target for police because he had several past felony convictions for robbery, domestic violence, burglary and armed criminal action. She argued Hill was on drugs at the time he was interviewed by police and gave a false confession.

“That was the actions of an addict. That’s what you saw,” she said. “That’s not someone in their right mind.”

Shaw’s relative, Jenn Barnes, who attended some of the trial this week, said the crime devastated her family. Shaw had one adult son and was close with his cousin, she said.

“Mikey was so kind. The gentlest soul you’d ever know,” Barnes said. “He would help anyone.”

Barnes said the 911 call played during the trial was heartbreaking.

“Exactly what he was worried about is what happened,” she said.

Shaw went missing in April 2019. When he didn’t show to work, a denture-making business, his business partner of 40 years got worried. Shaw had always been reliable.

Shaw lived alone with his dog, Sadie, so the co-worker asked police to check on him. On April 20, 2019, officers went to his home, in the 900 block of Burgos Street, and found Shaw dead.

In the days after, St. Louis County police investigators, led by Detective Matt Levy, found video recordings of Hill driving Shaw’s car and attempting to use Shaw’s debit card at a nearby gas station. A neighbor told the officers they remembered Hill shouting at Shaw a few weeks earlier asking for money. And in Shaw’s home, pieces of the front door frame were broken off, suggesting someone had forced their way in.

Within days, police took Hill into custody.

In a more than two-hour interview captured on video, played in full to the jury, Hill gets on his knees to pray while waiting for the detectives to arrive, repeating: “Please God.” He sings snippets of a gospel song as he waits.

When detectives enter the room, Hill denies any role in the killing.

“Mike helped me out a lot as far as finances,” he tells them. Hill explains that the 911 call stemmed from a misunderstanding when he needed bus fare from Shaw while Hill was in an argument with his wife.

“He don’t never hesitate to help me,” he says, later adding: “It’s unfortunate, because Mike is a good dude, for real.”

But when police tell Hill they know he had been driving Shaw’s car and attempting to use his debit card, Hill tells them he walked into Shaw’s home, saw him dead and stole the items from him.

Then, after more questioning, Hill changes his story.

He eventually tells the detectives he went to Shaw’s home to ask for $30. Shaw told him he could only give $15 and told him to go away, so Hill then forced his way into the home and beat Shaw repeatedly with a lamp before stealing the items, Hill says in the interview.

Hill tells the detectives he then threw the lamp into the Mississippi River and abandoned Shaw’s 2017 Hyundai Elantra in south St. Louis, where it was later found.

Cellphone records from Hill’s phone show he was in the vicinity of the crime, and also near the locations where Shaw’s bank cards were used.

On Tuesday, Hill took the stand and denied any role in the killing. He said he had no memory of the interrogation.

“I was high as a kite,” he said.

He said he felt that if he didn’t tell police what they wanted to hear, the interview would never end.

“I have no reason to lie,” Hill told the jury.

The prosecutor, Schlesinger, asked Hill how he could both not remember the interview and also testify about what he was feeling at the time. He emphasized that Hill appeared coherent throughout the entire interview.

“You can try to make me look bad,” Hill told Schlesinger.

“I’m not making you look bad,” Schlesinger said. “You’re making yourself look bad.”

The jury deliberated nearly two hours Wednesday before finding Hill guilty of first-degree murder, robbery, burglary and armed criminal action in the case.

Leslie Steinhauer, a longtime friend of Shaw, said she’ll never forget the kindness he showed her after her own son’s death.

“He would send me $50 every month because he knew I was struggling,” she said. “If you were going through something, he was going to be there. Why would someone do this to him?”

Victor Stefanescu of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.